You Belong With Me
by everlyrics
Summary: Piper McLean is just a nobody in the popular world. What are the chances of a nobody dating Jason Grace, a popular football player who already has a girlfriend? Not so much. Will Piper ever find her happy ending? AU. Kind of OOC. Based on the Taylor Swift song. (Forgot to mention that during the first two chapters)
1. The Intro to My Life

**Yo, yo, yo! Wazzup guys ? :) Well here's a new story that I came up with during class because English was boring me out. Sorry it's a little short, but it's kind of an intro... So yeah! Hope you like it, and please review! ~Jackie**

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Chapter 1

The Intro to My Life - (or at least to other people's lives)

I swept away the curtains that were covering my window and sighed. He hadn't opened his blinds yet. Sadly, I closed the curtains.

You see, the popular Jason Grace lives right next to me. Popular? Who am I kidding? He's like, a super star. The super star of our school, that is. And he's the definition of perfection. He's surprisingly my friend. But he'll never think of me the way he thinks of his girlfriend Drew. Ugh. Drew.

Drew is the queen of the school. How to describe her? Ah, she's ditzy. She's got slick, straight, black hair and sparkling brown eyes. She's going for homecoming queen and she's going to take that crown no matter what happens. She has the popular clique thing and she's captain of the cheerleading squad. Give me a 'G'! Give me an 'A'! Give me a 'G'! Gag.

I'm the complete opposite of her. What I mean by that is, I'm a nerd. Okay, maybe not a nerd, but to Drew's little clique, I am a nobody. I spend my time reading books, dancing like a dork in my room, and wearing those big old chunky glasses. Oh, and my name? My name is Piper McLean. I have choppy brown hair, dark brown eyes (they change colors, though), and very tan skin. According to Drew's logic, I'm plain. Psh. Plain? She's says I'm plain? Ha. I'd like to see her call me plain when she ends up working for me in the future.

Maybe I'm not the leader of the cheerleading squad, but I'm the leader of the marching band. It's pretty cool actually. Well, I think it is. Drew and everyone else? Not so much.

_Knock, knock, knock._

YES! I jumped out of bed and swiped away my curtains. Jason smiled at me. I smiled back and blushed. Then, I saw him hold up a finger as if to say, one moment. He picked up his cell phone and began talking into it, growing more and more frustrated by the second. Finally, he rolled his eyes and set his phone down.

I grabbed my giant notepad and wrote, _You Okay?_

He sighed and grabbed his notepad._ Tired of drama._

I shrugged and smiled sympathetically.

He scribbled on his notebook. _What are you doing?_

_Homework, like always._

_Me too. Haha. So, I have to go. See you tomorrow?_

_Of course. Always :)_

I closed my curtains and flopped onto my bed. I plugged my iPhone into the speakers and sang along pretending my hairbrush was a microphone. Yep, a dork. Jason could never like me. He's got the most popular girl in school. Who would give up her for me?


	2. Seriously, NOT GONNA HAPPEN

**Already 72 views and I just posted the first chapter 12 hours ago! Wow, you guys rock :) Enjoy, and please review!**

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**Chapter 2**

**Seriously, NOT GONNA HAPPEN**

The next day was really nice. The sun was shining and the leaves were turning bright orange and red. (Plus it was Friday!) I walked to my bus stop and sat down on a bench, reading a book. Jason walked up and sat next to me.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," I greeted him.

"I can't believe homecoming is only in a few weeks," he said.

I smiled. "Are you excited to play?" Jason is on the football team.

He smiled back. "Am I ever. Are you excited? You know, for your marching band?"

I sighed. "Yep. But we're still working on it."

He nodded and held my gaze.

Beep! Beep, beep, BEEEEEEEP!

We both looked up, startled. A shiny red convertible pulled over with Drew in the front seat. "Here comes the diva," I muttered under my breath.

Jason got up and walked over to Drew's car. He opened the door and sat down. Drew grabbed his neck and kissed him furiously, glaring at me over his shoulder as if to say, Haha, I win. As if I didn't know that already.

After she was done, she threw him back onto his car seat sassily and drove away. I growled as the car speeded off into the distance.

Soon the stinky yellow bus stopped and I got on. I sat in the front and read a book. I got so lost in the book. It was a love story. I know, kind of cliché, but seriously, it's a great book. I mean, Romeo and Juliet is a love story. It's really good, and did anyone ever call it cliché? Nope.

Tell me if I've been reading too much, or watching too many movies, but I think that in a way, life is cliché. Just like in books, there's always popular girls. Whether they're nice or not, they're always there. And in movies, there's always a love story waiting to be told. Look around you. If you think about it, someone around you is bound to be in love. See? Like I said. Cliché.

The bus went around to a few more places and then screeched to a stop at my school. Right when I walked off, my friend Annabeth who (gasp!) is also judged as a nerd, greeted me happily. Okay, well she is actually a bit of a nerd because she's really smart.

"Hey, Pipes!" she said, "What's up?"

"The usual," I replied as we walked into the school. "Girls being girls, divas being divas, and Drew being Drew." We both shuddered at the last remark.

"I can't believe that Jason dude is actually really in to her," Annabeth said.

"Well she does have great hair..." I pointed out.

Annabeth whacked my shoulder after we were almost trampled by a bunch of senior guys. "That is not the point here, missy."

"Then what is the point?" I put in my locker combination.

"The point is," Annabeth said slowly. "That there are way better girls out there then that beast people call a girl. And by 'way better girls', I mean you."

"Whoa, there." I opened my locker and turned around to look at my crazy friend in the eye. "Come on, Annabeth. Be real."

"I am being real," she insisted as I handed her my stuff so she could hold it while I put my jacket into my locker. "You have a lot more to offer then that... That creature."

I laughed. "That's mean."

"She deserves it."

I nodded and grabbed my stuff back. "That's true."

We started walking to class. "You should totally ask him out."

I stopped dead. "Funky blond haired, crazy look in her eyes, mess of a mind, lump of wild imagination, oblivious, supportive, yet unreasonable best friend say what?"

Annabeth stared at me. "Um, what?"

"Ring ring!" I said, holding up a phone that I made with my hand. "This is reality calling. They want to tell Annabeth Chase that that is so not going to happen."

"Agh," Annabeth face-palmed herself. "Come on! It's sophomore year! We are not going to be the chickens we were last year. Starting with you."

"Why can't it start with you?"

"Because I don't like anyone, doofus."

"What about Jason's friend, Percy?"

Annabeth blushed. "Whatever."

I rolled my eyes, said bye to her, walked into homeroom. There, I took my usual seat which was (squee!) behind Jason. I took out a piece of paper and and wrote on it:

_Hey, so what are you doing this weekend? -P.M._

I scrunched it up and tossed it onto his desk. He read it, quickly wrote on it, and pretended to run his hand through his hair, but really used the excuse to give me back the note.

_Writing notes in class, are we? Tsk, tsk. LOL jk :) I'm just going to practice football in my backyard and hang with my older sister. You know, Thalia. And my dog. Jason Jr. -J.G._

_Actually, nah. It's not exactly class, it's homeroom. I'm hanging with Lacy. -P.M._

Lacy is my eight year old cousin who lives with me.

_Cool. Wanna come over tomorrow? -J.G._

I smiled to myself.

_Yas, please. I just love hanging out with your sister. And your dog. Can't wait :) -P.M._

_So you don't love hanging out with me? Haha. Jk. See you in science! -J.G._

As the bell rang, I sighed and whispered, "Of course I love hanging out with you."


	3. Maybe Always Means Yes!

**I don't know about you guys, but I like my house because it's cozy and I don't have to walk far to get places! The lazy sloth in me shines :) Piper's house is not like mine at all, but I guess it depends on how you imagine it. This is the second chapter I've updated today, because I might not be able to update tomorrow, so sit back, relax, and REVIEW PLEASE! ~Jackie **

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Chapter 3

Maybe Always Means Yes!

FINALLY! Lunch has come, and I am Starving with a capital 'S'! I got in the lunch line with Annabeth.

"Soooo," Annabeth said. "I have an awesome weekend planned for us! We're going popular girl style! Going to the mall, getting mani-pedis, and coloring our hair!"

"Oh cool," I said. "What day?"

"Since when does it matter what day? We can have a sleepover tonight and spend Saturday together!" she said.

"Ooh," I winced. The lunch line moved forward. "Can't. How 'bout sleepover Saturday and go to the mall on Sunday?"

"Okay," she said. "Just one thing. You never have anything planned in Saturdays. What's different about this one?"

I fidgeted. "Well..."

"Oh. My. Gods," Annabeth said. It was our turn in line now. "I can see it in your eyes! You're hanging out with... A BOY! Who is it? Tell me, tell me, tellllll meeeeee!"

"Maybe. Ok, fine. We're just hanging out as friends," I informed her truthfully.

"That wasn't what I was asking," she told me. "I said, 'who'? So tell me!"

"Jason," I mumbled.

Annabeth let out a squeal so loud that people around us started staring. I clamped her mouth shut with my hand.

"Be quiet!" the lunch lady hissed. "And get your lunch now, or don't get it at all!"

I grabbed a tray and the lunch lady scooped orange chicken into a compartment. I took a fortune cookie, a cup if pineapples, and made my own salad.

"Jason Grace?" Annabeth whispered as I punched in my lunch number.

"Maybe," I said while we walked to our usual table with our other friends Hazel, Rachel, and Calypso. "But maybe not."

All three of my friends stared at me expectantly.

"Fine," I said. "Jason Grace. You know we're friends. Why is it a big deal?"

"Because it's the Jason Grace," Rachel popped in.

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are so immature."

Just then, Jason walked by and dropped a note into my lap.

"Ooooh." Annabeth leaned close.

"What does it say, what does it say?" Hazel asked.

I read it out loud:

I'll meet you by your locker after school. Have something to tell you. -J.G.

"Huh," I said. "Wonder what he has to tell me."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Calypso winked.

I walked to my locker and entered my locker combination. There was chocolate milk spilled on the ground in front of the locker next to mine. Ew. How do you spill that much chocolate milk? Ugh.

While I was putting on my jean jacket, someone tapped my shoulder. I spun around and there was Jason.

"Hey," I said. "I got your note. Why did you want to meet me here?"

"Because I have something to tell you," he said.

"Well, duh." I laughed. "It said 'have something to tell you' on the note. What else could that mean?"

"It could mean that I think Drew is cheating on me," he said, seriously.

"She what?" I said. "How? What? Why would? Are you joking?"

"She hasn't been wanting to hang out with me as much lately," he told me. "She said she doesn't have enough time. And you know her. She has a little too much time."

I laughed at the last part. "That's true. But think about it. Why would she give up the captain of the football team, most cut... I mean cunning guy in this entire wor... Er, school?" Smooth, Piper. Smooth.

Jason grinned. "Sure, Piper. Whatever you say." With that, he walked away.

While I was doing homework, Lacy walked up to me.

"Piper?" she said. "Can we play?"

"Maybe, just let me do my homework," I said.

Anna hopped on my bed and got under the covers next to me. "It's y=-2x+8."

"Um, what?" I said slightly confused.

She repeated it.

"I know," I said. "I know the answer. It's just, how do you know it?"

Lady shrugged. "I guess I have a little extra time on my hands."

"A little?" I repeated. "You have time to practice the violin, do your little third grade homework, go to your friend's house, take a forty-five minute bath, and learn twelfth grade math?"

"Nah," Lacy said. "I was learning ninth grade math. It just so happens, that you're doing review homework. Besides, I thought you're in tenth grade, not twelfth."

"How do you know it's review?" I said. "And I am in tenth, I'm just in a twelfth grade level class."

Lacy rolled her eyes and pointed to the top of my worksheet. "It says 'review' on it."

I stared. "Oh. Duh."

Lacy giggled. "So are you done now?"

I put the paper back into my folder and put my folder into my backpack. "Yep, all set. What do you want to play!"

"Hide and seek!" Anna exclaimed. "I'll hide. You count to 120!"

"Alright. 1, 2..."

Knock, knock!

"Jason!" I shouted. I pulled away the curtains and wrote on my notepad.

_I have to go in 2 min. Playing hide and seek with Lacy._

_Haha ok that's fine. Lacy's adorable. Lucky to have a little kid living with you. Teenagers are crazy._

_You're a teenager yourself xD_

_I met Thalia. :P don't make fun of me!_

_Haha :P I'm not. And it's meant*._

_Still making fun! Haha. Anyway, don't you have a hide and seek game to get to?_

_Right. Thanks for the reminder. See ya! :D_

I closed my notepad and yelled, "Lacy! Come out, come out wherever you are!" I heard a muffled giggle from downstairs. I ran down the stairs. "Oh, LACY?!" A gigantic laugh came from the recording studio. "Lacy? I know you're in here!" Bursts of small giggles came from the drums. I walked over to the drums and scooped Lacy up. "Found ya!"

Lacy laughed over and over. When she finally calmed down, she pointed at the piano. "Sing, Piper!"

I smiled. "I don't think so. Come on, it's time to eat."

"Okay," Lacy said. "Will you sing and play after?"

"Maybe," I said.

"Yay!" she cried.

"Why are you happy?" I asked. "I haven't said yes yet."

"Yeah," she said. "But with you, maybe always means yes! Like when you said you would 'maybe' play with me. And you did! Maybe always means yes when you say it!"

That's sort of true. Maybe always means yes.

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**Hope you liked it :) Please review, and give some tips if you want!**


	4. Goodnight

**Yesterday, I went dress shopping (for a piano formal concert), to a Korean Restaurant, to a tempel, _and _practiced piano. That's why I didn't update. SORRY GUYS BUT I LOVE YOU, I REALLY DO. I LOVE YOU AS MUCH AS PIPER LOVES JASON. Speaking of them, let's get to the story! ~Jackie**

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Chapter 4

Goodnight

That night, mom made us a specialty. My mom is a great chef, but sometimes, she says she's too 'physically challenged in her arms'. Um, right. She goes to the gym three days a week and often swims at the pool. Sometimes she's even lifting weights when I come to pick her up. Physically challenged? I think not.

Mom made us steak, mashed potatoes with rosemary, sunny side up, and a side of salad. For dessert she baked fruit tart.

While I was nibbling my delicious fruit tart, my mom asked me how school was.

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"It was fine," I told her. "A lot of drama." Which was true.

"Drama?" Mom repeated. "Drama, how?"

"You know Eric from next door?" I asked.

"Yes." Mom dabbed around her mouth with a napkin. "Lovely boy."

"Why do people say lovely, mommy?" Lacy interrupted. "It sounds so mushy."

Dad laughed. Oh yeah. My dad. He's a movie star and that's why we're rich. However, not as rich as Drew, because her parents are really big business people. But that's okay, I don't care.

"That's just how it is, pumpkin," Dad told Lacy. "Anyway, back to you, Pipes?"

"Well he thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him." I snorted. "Isn't that ridiculous? Drew would rub it in anyone's face that she's dating Jason. Why would she cheat on him?"

"How does cheating relate to dating?" Lacy asked.

"It doesn't," the rest of us said in unison.

Lacy shrugged and shoved the rest of her fruit tart into her mouth.

"Drew?" Mom said. "Isn't she the girl that lives in the big house a street over from us?"

"Mom," I said. "Technically, we have a big house too. Just not as big as hers."

"Can I go listen to you now?" Anna said.

"Not now," I said.

"Why would he think she's cheating on him?" Mom asked leaning in.

"She said she doesn't have time for hanging out with him," I said.

"Why," Mom gasped. "That girl has so much time, if she was a sand timer, she'd never run out of sand."

"Exactly." I munched on the last bit of my fruit tart.

Lacy hopped out of her chair and yanked on my sleeve. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Okay, fine," I said.

She dragged me to the recording studio and sat me down by the piano.

I stared at the piano.

"Well...?" Lacy said.

"What do you want me to play?" I asked.

"LION KING!"

"Lion King isn't a song."

"It is too!"

"No, it's not," I said, sighing.

"You know what I mean," she said sassily.

I rolled my eyes and started to play the song and singing. When I was done, I heard the sound of Lacy clapping, but I also heard the sound of someone else clapping. I turned around and saw Jason leaning on the doorway.

Jason Grace. He's in my house. I mean, of course Jason has been in my house before. Not just once. When we were little, he would always come to my house when his dad was working because his mother died a long time ago. He and his dad also came over because my family always hosted the annual Christmas party, while his family hosted the Thanksgiving one, and Leo and his dad did Easter.

Standing next to him was our mutual friend, Leo Valdez. Leo and I have been best friends since we were little I was in seventh grade, I met Annabeth and she's been my girl best friend ever since. That never changed me and Leo's friendship, because we're still as close as ever.

"J-Jason," I stammered. "What are you doing here?"

Leo crossed his arms. "Yeah, I feel the love here, Beauty Queen."

I stared at him. "Shut up, Fireboy." Fireboy has been my nickname for Leo since we were six, and my parents agreed with his dad to go on a camping trip. Jason also came with. We were roasting marshmallows and Leo got his marshmallow too close to the fire. Well, it blew up into flames. Little Leo was so amazed at the dancing orange light that he actually touched it. He was so surprised at how hot it was, he ran around and jumped into a lake. Of course, it's ironic that his mother died in a fire when he was three, but everyone knows not to bring that up.

Jason laughed. "Well Drew blew me off on Wednesday, then she blew me off again last night, and now she's also ditching me today. I thought I shouldn't waste my time alone, so I came here with Leo."

I smiled. "So, I'm your second choice, or something?"

"No, no." His eyes widened. "That's not what I meant."

"I'm joking," I assured him.

Leo snorted. "Some joke."

I walked over to him and smacked his shoulder. Leo flinched.

Lacy walked over to us. "Hitting people is not nice."

Leo looked at me meaningfully. "Yeah, hitting people isn't nice."

Lacy turned to Leo. "Neither is mimicking people."

"Ooooh," Jason said. "You guys just got roasted like Leo's marshmallow by an eight year old."

"Marshmallows are good," Lacy informed us. "Do you guys want to go watch Big Hero 6 and eat marshmallows?"

Leo grinned. "Sure. I love watching robots beat people up."

"Baymax is a healthcare assistant," Lacy pointed out. "He doesn't beat people up."

Leo stared at her. "Mimicking people isn't nice."

Lacy tossed her hair. "But I mimicked an alien." She walked off to the kitchen to grab a bag of marshmallows.

"She just called you an alien!" Jason hooted.

"Your cousin is smart," Leo told me. "And a bit sassy."

"I've already gotten that figured out," I said. "That's why I love her."

I led the boys to our theatre with a gigantic flat screen T.V. and a bunch of theatre recliners in four sets of three. I went over to the light switch and dimmed the lights a bit.

"I can't get over how sweet your house is," Leo said.

"You're house is pretty sweet, too," I said.

"You're being modest. Stop it."

I rolled my eyes. Lacy came in holding a big bag of marshmallows. She placed the bag on the table. I sat down in the middle of one of the sets of three recliners. Leo sat to my left and Jason sat on my right. Lacy stared at us, and we realized there were no more seats in this set. Jason got up. "You can have my seat if you want, Lacy."

Lacy shook her head. "That's okay! I can just sit on my comfy beanbag chair." She dragged her beanbag chair over to our set of recliners and plopped down on Leo's side of the recliner.

I placed my arm on the armrest and my fingers bumped Jason's. I felt a tingle travel up my arm and all the way down to my spine. "Sorry," we said at the same time. "No, I'm sorry," we both said.

"Guys, shut up," Leo said. "One, that's creepy. Two, the movie is starting."

As the movie played, the bag of marshmallows was passed around. At the part where Hiro said, "He looks like a giant marshmallow", Leo made a marshmallow model of Baymax and shouted, "I AM A MARSHMALLOW!" Leo also made unnecessary comments near the end when they were saving the world like, "ROBOTS ARE COOL!" and "2, 4, 6, 8! Who do we appreciate? 1, 2, 3, 4! BAYMAX, LET THEM HEAR YOU ROAR!"

When the movie was over, we all yawned and got up to stretch. I looked over to the beanbag to see that a Lacy was already asleep. I checked my watch and realized it was 8:45. I walked over to her and was about to pick her up, but Jason said, "I got her, Pipes." He scooped her up, walked up two flights of stairs, and tucked her in.

"Such a gentleman, isn't he?" Leo smirked.

I shoved him. "You're so annoying."

"That's what I live for, baby." Leo flexed his muscles. I sighed.

Jason quietly shut the door to Lacy's room and yawned. "I think I should get home now."

Leo nodded. "Me too. My dad hates it when I get home after 9:00."

"Alright," I said. I led them up to the front double doors. "Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight, Pipes," they said as they walked out the door.

I closed the door, grabbed my backpack that was sitting near a recliner, and walked up to my room. Feeling a bit uncomfortable in my jeans, I slipped into sweatpants and an old band T-shirt. Before cuddling with my blankets, I took my journal and pen off my night table and began to write.

_October 12_

_Jason told me he thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him. That's ridiculous, right? I mean, who, in the right mind, would ever cheat on Jason Grace? And I quote (from Rachel) _the _Jason Grace. Well, of course maybe aside from Drew. Drew would cheat on anybody if she got the chance. But Drew is the kind of girl who likes to show off. Like showing off the fact she's dating the CUTEST guy in the school. Ugh._

_Anyway, Jason and Leo came to my house today and we watched Big Hero 6 with Lacy while eating marshmallows. Lacy's asleep right now, Leo and Jason are at home, and I think my parents are watching a movie or something._

_I wish Jason thinks of me like he thinks of his girlfriend. Dreaming about the day when he wakes up and finds that what he's looking for has been here the whole time. But that's never going to happen, obviously._

_-Piper McLean _

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**Thanks for reading, please REVIEW! Give me some ideas, if you want! ~Jackie**


	5. The Perfect Day (NOT!)

**I stayed up really late to finish this chapter because I was really determined to update so you guys could read. Anyway, hope you like it, and please REVIEW!**

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**Chapter 5**

**The Perfect Day (NOT!)**

I blinked twice, sleepily, then opened my eyes. YES! Today was Saturday. Saturday. Meaning one, NO SCHOOL! I mean I like school and all. Well, I don't exactly like it, but it's not bad. Still, I like days off even better. Two, Jason's house at 2:00! It was only 10:02 right now, so I had three hours and fifty-eight minutes left. What to do, what to do?

I sat up and stretched while I yawned. Light from my window flooded into my light purple room making it look like it came from a fairy tale. I heard Lacy awake in her bathroom taking a shower. Lacy takes cool showers. She says "It's good for the skin and roots of the hair" and that "you should do it sometime". I said I would, but really I wouldn't. Ever since Lacy stopped taking warm showers, I've had more hot water to myself. I think my parents approve of Lacy's cool showers, too. They said they think it's a great idea because it's good for her growing body. I think the real reason is because they get to spend less money on the water bill.

I got off my bed and walked to my bathroom. My mom says my bathroom is like "a blind beaver's dam", but I know where everything is, so what's the point? But, nevertheless, she makes me clean it every two weeks. Ugh.

After I brushed my teeth, I went into my shower stall and took a warm shower. Not a cold one, a warm one. When I was done I picked out a cute but comfortable outfit to hang out with Jason. It was still really warm out, so I wore some jean shorts and a short sleeved shirt with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I took out my daily gold necklace with a tiny heart and a matching bracelet. Perfect outfit for a perfect day.

I went down the stairs and made some pancakes. That was when Lacy (in little white romper and pink ribbons in her hair) hopped down the steps into the kitchen and licked her lips.

"Mmm," she said. "Pancakes!" Lacy isn't the lazy kid in families that sit around waiting for food and getting fat without helping out. So she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed boxes of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. She put them all into a bowl, filled it with water and started washing them. "I love when you make pancakes. What made you make them today?"

I shrugged. "I just feel happy today. I think today will be a good day."

Lacy smiled as she dried out the berries and put them into another bowl. She then grabbed the syrup and whipped cream and set them on the table. She took out four plates, forks, dining knives, and napkins. Our parents came up the stairs.

"Wow, girls," Dad said. "Pancakes? What's the special occasion? You guys usually are really lazy so you just put bacon in the mini cooker and fry eggs. Or you toast bagels."

"Shh." Mom shushed my dad. "Just be quiet and enjoy this moment."

I laughed. "What? A girl can't make pancakes for her family?" I plopped all the pancakes on to the plates and let my family add as much syrup, whipped cream, and berries they wanted. Yum.

When everyone had finished, I gathered all the plates and utensils and put them in the sink. After what seemed like forever, I got done doing the dishes. I looked at the clock in hope that a lot of time had already passed... Nope. 10:52. Only fifty minutes had gone by since I'd woken up.

There was a lot of time until 2:00. I could... Read? No, it's the weekend. Watch a movie? Been there, done that. Write in my diary? No, I have nothing to say, I just woke up. Fly to Paris on such a short notice? I wish.

Lacy was up in her room, practicing her violin. She was really good. I think Lacy's got this talent where she's good at at least one thing from each of the categories in life.

"Lacy?" I called. I heard a tap as she set down her bow and violin.

"Yes?" came her muffled reply.

"Do you want to go jogging with me?" I asked.

Lacy opened the door to her room so I could hear her voice more clearly. "Okay, let me change first!"

"That's fine!" I said. "I have to change too!"

I slipped on a pair of gray joggers and a light blue tank that read I don't have anything to wear. I tied my choppy hair up into a short ponytail and headed towards the door. Lacy came out wearing cute little gym shorts with a shirt that said _Yes, I Run Like A Girl_. We both put on our matching Jordan's (mine were bigger, obviously) and headed out the door.

"It's a beautiful day today, isn't?" I said.

Lacy nodded. "It's so great today, the neighbor's grumpy isn't barking at us this time. You know, he always barks at us when we walk by."

There was this one time I had to walk Lacy to her bus stop and the dog saw us and started to bark. Lacy was only five then, and I was twelve. Of course, I didn't help when little Lacy stuck two fingers in her ears and put out her tongue. The dog got so mad, it left it started to run towards us. What the dog didn't know was, his owner had just put up an electric fence. We spent about five minutes making faces at the poor dog knowing it couldn't get us. Man, we were evil.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around to see a blond haired girl with glasses. "Annabeth?"

"Hi, Piper!" Annabeth greeted me. She bent down a patted Lacy. "Hello, Annabeth Jr. Out for a jog?" Lacy wants Annabeth to call her Annabeth Jr. She says it's because Annabeth is really smart, and Lacy wants to be just like her when she grows up.

"Yep," Lacy said. "Exercising is very healthy for your body. Aerobic exercise such as jogging or swimming should be done three to five times a week."

Annabeth smiled. "You're correct, little lady."

Lacy grinned with pride.

After a few minutes, all three of us had gotten to the park.

"Go play on the playground, okay, Lacy?" I said.

"Okay!" Lacy ran off to the swing set and pushed herself off the ground.

"So," Annabeth said, "Grace, huh?"

I looked down at my feet. "Yes. Jason Grace, to be exact."

"I already knew that." Annabeth rolled her eyes. "So what do you think you're going to do during your 'hangout'?"

"I don't know," I confessed. "If it's awkward, I might not be there for long. If it's not, I probably won't get home until about eight."

"Home from where?" A different voice said. I looked up from Annabeth to see Drew and her squad of squealing girls trailing behind her.

"Oh, look," Annabeth said. "It's just the group of the most annoying pigs on earth. We totally wanted to run into you here, Drew."

"Darling," Drew said in a sticky sweet voice. "Sarcasm isn't needed around here."

"And neither are you," I growled.

Drew turned her glaring eyes towards me. "Oh, look who's talking!" Drew's little group of followers giggled stupidly.

I took out my phone and started typing. I typed I'm sorry. I believe you're the one who's talking. I flipped my phone screen around I shoved it at Drew's face.

Drew scoffed. "Whatever, Dumpster Girl."

I stared at her. I wanted to tell out so many things to her. Why did boys ever like her? Why did Jason even like her? Why was Jason even dating her? She's such a spoiled brat. Instead, I just said, "Get out of my face."

"I will," Drew said. "I don't even want to see it!" She stalked off with her little minions.

Annabeth stared at their backs. "The nerve of that girl! She drives me insane."

I shrugged. "You think you'd get used to it."

Lacy bounded over. "Can we go home now? I want to play with you and Annabeth!"

"Okay, sure," I said. We jogged home. Today was the perfect day, and I wouldn't even let Drew ruin it.

...

It was finally 1:45! After eating lunch with Annabeth and Lacy, I changed back into my original clothes for today and slipped in a pair of gray Converse. Then I braided my hair and weaver in some feathers.

On my third knock, Jason opened the door and smiled. "Hey, Pipes!"

"What's up, Jason?" I said and walked into his house.

"Who's at the door?" A faint voice said.

"It's Piper," Jason said.

I heard some footsteps and all of a sudden, Thalia came down the stairs and hugged me. "Hi, Piper! Haven't seen you in awhile! Jason is always having Drew over and she doesn't like me, but the feeling's mutual."

Jason turned red. "Thalia! Stop being so embarrassing!"

Thalia shrugged and jabbed her thumb towards him. "Brothers." She went up to her room.

Jason was still red. "Don't mind her."

"It's okay, Jason," I assured him. "I've known Thalia for a long time. I know her."

Jason smiled. "Okay. Let's go to my room."

...

Jason and I talked for hours. After Mr. Grace cooked us a dinner, we went outside and started a mini campfire with just me and Jason. We took out marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate to make s'mores.

I shivered. From across the fire, Jason sensed I was cold.

"Do you need a blanket?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"Yes you do," he said. He walked over to me, draped a blanket around my shoulders and sat next to me. I snuggled into the blankets. He put his arm around me to keep me warm and we looked into each other's eyes. Then, a piercing voice shattered the calm night.

"JASON GRACE!" Drew Tanaka screamed. "What do you think you're doing?"

Jason stood up quickly. "Drew! What are you doing here? I thought you were busy."

A troubled look crossed Drew's face, but then she quickly recovered. She eyed me and said, "Don't change the subject! What is Dumpster Girl doing here?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Piper McLean!" Drew stomped her foot. "What is Piper McLean doing at your house?"

"Did you just call her 'Dumpster Girl'?" Jason's voice rose.

"I said! don't change the subject!"

Jason looked at Drew. "No, you don't change the subject! She's my neighbor and my friend. You don't just barge into other people's house without asking them, and you definitely don't call my friends 'Dumpster Girl'! You're just jealous of her!"

Drew snorted. "Me? Jealous? Of her? Name one reason why I would be jealous of this brat."

"Because I like her attitude way more than I like yours right now!" Jason said. Then he stormed into his house.

"Jason, wait!" Drew called out. When the door slammed shut, she turned to me. "Dumpster Girl," she hissed." You better not think this is over. He likes me way better than he likes you. Just watch. You'll never be as good as me." She turned her heel and stomped off.

I was wrong.

Maybe Drew could ruin my perfect day.

* * *

**Awh, poor Piper. Thanks for reading this chapter and another friendly reminder to REVIEW, FAVORITE, AND ALERT! **


	6. Whatcha Doin' With a Girl Like That?

**Worked my butt off to make this chapter good. Sorry, it's kind of boring, but trust me... THE NEXT WILL BE GOOD! ~Jackie**

* * *

Chapter** 6**

**Whatcha Doin' With a Girl Like That?**

I slammed one of the front doors as I came in and stomped up to my room to find Annabeth already there doing Lacy's nails. When she finished the last finger, she said, "Now go to your room, Lacy. I'll be there in a little bit." Lacy scurried to her room and Annabeth motioned for me to sit down on my bed next to her.

"What's up?" she asked, her face full of concern.

"Agh," I said. "Gods, I can't stand that cursed girl!"

"What?" Annabeth said. "Who?"

"Drew," I growled.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked.

"We were hanging out," I rambled. "Then we had dinner and we were having a campfire. I got really cold and he put a blanket and his arm around me and then Drew came out of nowhere and started arguing with Jason about why I was there! Then, she told me I'll never be as good as her! That's not true, right? She said Jason obviously likes her better. That's not true either, right?"

Annabeth sighed and walked over to one of my jewelry boxes. She picked up a jeweled tiara and placed it on my head. I stared at her. "What are you doing?"

"I want to remind you that you are a princess," Annabeth told me. "You are a princess to me, you're a princess to Jason, and to your family and friends. To Lacy, you're even a queen. Don't go trying to please Drew, because she's the one trying to overthrow you." She hugged me. "Now lift your head up, princess. Your tiara is falling."

"Why do people like Drew even exist?" I asked. "She's such a drama queen."

"People who want to be drama queens can be drama queens," Annabeth said. "But people who have potential will never let drama queens in their way."

"Thanks, Annabeth," I said.

Annabeth scrunched up her eyebrows. "No, I was talking about me. I have potential... But um, I guess you do too." Annabeth grinned and I shoved her.

"Shut up." I laughed.

Lacy creaked my door open. "Can I come in now?"

Right when I was about to respond, I heard a knocking sound at my window. "Jason!" I turned to Lacy. "Um, you can come in ten minutes, okay? Go read or talk to your friends while that."

Lacy huffed. "Okay, but ten minutes." She quietly shut the door.

"Jason's at your window?" Annabeth asked with a confused expression.

"No," I said. "Not really." I took out my giant notebook.

"What's that for?" Annabeth wondered.

"You'll see," I said. When I opened my curtains, Jason already had his message up.

_I'm really, really sorry about Drew._

"Well," Annabeth said. "You guys have an odd way of communicating. Why can't you just text?"

"It doesn't capture the emotion," I told her.

"You obviously can't write what you think about her," she said.

"I'm not," I said.

_It's fine. It's not your fault she decided to come in and get jealous even though she's the one blowing you off. Are you okay?_

_I'm fine. I guess._

_I'll spy on her for you if you want! xD_

"Wow, really?" Annabeth said. "Spy?"

She's supposed to be going shopping tomorrow with her friends. You available?

Annabeth took the notepad from my hands and wrote on it. Then she held it up.

_We're going shopping tomorrow. We'll probably be able to spy on her. Oh, and Piper wants to say WHY WOULD YOU DATE HER IF YOU THINK SHE'S CHEATING IN YOU?_

"Annabeth!" I exclaimed. "Agh!" I turned to Jason and shook my head rapidly.

Jason smiled.

Great, give me feedback when you come home. Bye, Pipes :) um bye Annabeth.

Bye! Bye, you oblivious dude.

I stared at Annabeth for a full minute. Then we both cracked up.

"'Bye, you oblivious dude'?!" I said between fits of laughter.

"'I'll spy on her if you want'?" Annabeth shot back.

I stopped laughing. "I was kidding! I didn't think he'd actually take it seriously!"

"Hey, and he never answered my question..." Annabeth said. "I wonder why."

Lacy knocked on the door.

"Come in, Lace!" I called.

"Finally," Lacy said as she opened the door. "What were you guys doing?"

"Talking to Grace next door," Annabeth said.

"Mr. Crush?" Lacy asked, drawing a heart in the air with both if her pointer fingers.

I threw a pillow at her feet. "No, not Mr. Crush. Mr. Neighbor Who Has Nothing to Do With My Life Whatsoever."

Lacy pouted. "Hey, watch the toes. Annabeth just did them!"

"Yeah, like before I came home," I said. "They should be dry by now."

Lacy wiggled her toes and poked her polish. "Yep, they're dry."

"Lacy," Annabeth said. "You should go to sleep now. It's nine and it's late for you. Now go to sleep."

"What about you?" Lacy asked.

"We're going to sleep around now too," I said. "We have a big mission for tomorrow and we need to get good rest."

Lacy sighed. "Okay, fine. Goodnight, guys." She shut the door.

"You go ahead and sleep," I told Annabeth. "I'm going to write in my journal."

Annabeth shrugged. "Okay. Night."

"Night." I grabbed my diary and started to write.

_October 13_

_I thought today would be the best day ever. Boy, was I wrong._

_My day started out perfect. I made pancakes, at them, and went for a jog with Lacy and Annabeth. Who wouldn't like that? It started going downhill when we ran into Drew. She was all "Dumpster Girl" this, "Dumpster Girl" that. Gag._

_Even though she bothered me, that feeling disappeared soon after. I thought Drew definitely couldn't spoil my day. I mean, Dumpster Girl? What a lame diss._

_I went to Jason's house and we talked and ate dinner and had a nice campfire. We roasted marshmallows and turned them into s'mores. Then he put his arm around me and we were stuck in this totally awkward but romantic position. He might've even was about to kiss me. Here comes the bad part._

_Drew popped up out of nowhere and started yelling at Jason about how he couldn't hang out with me, blah blah, etc. Jason yelled back and they started to argue. When he left, Drew was all up in my face like, "You'll never be as good as me. He obviously likes me better." SHUT UP, DREW!_

_Then I came home, and Annabeth tried to cheer me up and stuff. Jason knocked on the window and we started talking with our notepads like always. I asked him if he's okay. He said he's fine, I know him better than that. What's he doing with a girl like that?_

_Anyway, I said I'd spy on her for him. He said she'd be going to the mall tomorrow with her friends. It just so happens that Annabeth and I are also going, so we'll be spying tomorrow._

_Well, I better get a good night's sleep. Big day tomorrow. Wish me luck._

_-Piper McLean _

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**REVIEW PLEASE! **


	7. What's She Up To?

**YAY! I updated! Make sure to REVIEW and check out my two stories "Demigods in a Fantasy World" and its sequel "Demigods in a Disney World"! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! ~Jackie**

**Chapter 7**

**What's She Up To?**

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," a voice said.

I rolled over in my bed. "One more minute, mom."

"Ha," the voice said. "She just called me her mother."

Another voice chuckled. This was a deeper voice. This was... A boy's voice.

My eyes flew open and I bolted upright. I squinted and saw Annabeth standing at the side of my bed. She was dressed in white shorts, a black sleeveless hoodie that said _UNDERCOVER,_ and a black beanie. Jason stood at the foot of my bed. "Jason? What? What are you doing here?"

"He knocked on the door this morning," Annabeth said. "I let him in."

"But I'm still sleeping!" I said.

"Not anymore, you're not." Annabeth yanked on my arm and pulled me into my bathroom. She took out my toothbrush, squeezed toothpaste onto it, and started brushing my teeth. After about two minutes she took the toothbrush out of my mouth. "Spit," she ordered. I spat and rinsed with water. I popped in some contact lenses because I didn't want to wear my glasses. There are those days when I hate my glasses, and days when I love them.

She tossed me an outfit that matched hers and I slipped it on. Then, I stepped out of my bathroom and sighed.

"Wow, Piper,"Jason fake whistled. "You look like a real spy."

I smirked. "I am a real spy."

Lacy knocked on the door and came in with a light blue dress and blue ribbons in her hair. "Jason's going to play with me while you're at the mall! We're going to have fun!"

Jason patted Lacy's head. "Yes, we will." He handed me and Annabeth granola bars. "Your breakfast," he stated.

Annabeth held the granola bar up and examined it. "Hmm. Chocolate chip granola bars." She shoved it in her sack pack. "Not the best, but doable."

I shoved my granola bar in my sack pack. "Not bad, Grace."

"Here." Jason tossed Annabeth a recording device. "It's a spy gadget. Whenever you press the red button, it'll record. If you don't want it to, press the blue one." Annabeth put that in her bag too.

"Oh and this." Jason took out a circular device with a screen. "Drew has a tracker on her phone. She gave it to me in case she got kidnapped or something. Use this to find her."

We nodded and walked towards the door

"Good luck," Jason said. We were just about to walk out the door when Lacy said, "Wait! Don't forget these!" She pulled out two pairs of sunglasses. "You might need them if they go outside!"

I laughed and took them from her. "Dad, Annabeth and I are going to be out!"

I heard a faint "Okay!". Then I slipped on my Converse and shut the door. We walked for about twenty minutes and finally made it to the mall. Annabeth pulled her beanie lower over her face. "Ready?" she asked.

I straightened my hoodie and nodded. "Let's do this."

Annabeth took out the tracker. She pointed to the red dot in the gridded screen. "It looks like she's in Starbucks."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course."

"Vamos!" Annabeth motioned for me to follow her as she walked off. "Let's go!"

We scurried off towards Starbucks.

There she was. There was Drew. Ordering a mango smoothie. Annabeth grabbed a chair and slid into it casually. I took the chair across from her and we pretended to talk about food.

I heard Drew say, "Come on, guys. Let's go to the beach."

I stared at Annabeth alarmed. "The beach?" I whispered.

"With these outfits, we're sure to attract attention at the beach!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"No worries," I said and took out two bikinis. "A spy is always prepared. Now quick! The target is getting away!"

We walked closely behind them. I was surprised they never turned around or suspected us. Figures. They were too dumb to know it was us.

The beach was warm and the sun was shining, burning the sand. The waves weren't very big, but just the right size for having fun. Little stands were up selling Popsicles and smoothies. People were laughing and having fun.

"Ow," Annabeth squeaked as she stepped into the sand. She bounced on her tip toes. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" She made it to the bathroom.

I poked my foot into the sand. "Ouch." I bounced across the sand to the bathroom saying "ow" each time my foot touched the sand.

I quickly put on my light blue bikini and Annabeth but on her emerald green one. I didn't feel very comfortable, so I just put in a white wrap. We sat down on a beach chair and put in our sunglasses that Lacy gave us. Annabeth turned on her recording device.

"I'm hanging with Conner soon," Drew said.

A girl snorted. "I can't believe that Jason of yours is so oblivious."

"I know right?" Drew said. "But that fits in perfectly with what I'm doing."

"Why do you still date him?" Another girl said.

"Because he's hot," Drew said. "And he's really cute and sweet. And he's the most popular guy in the school. Who wouldn't date him?"

"Me," said a girl.

"You don't count," Drew said. "You have a boyfriend."

Annabeth turned the recorder off. "This is all we need until further notice," she whispered.

"Let's go," I said.

...

Jason stared at the recorder.

"Sorry," I said. "I can't believe her nerve! She's so.. Agh! Why would she cheat on you? What did you ever-?"

Jason interrupted me by pulling me into a hug. He held me there for a long time, and Annabeth was silent.

After about a minute, I pulled away. "What was that for?"

"To make you shut up." Jason grinned.

I whacked his shoulder. "No, really."

"Because it's fine," he said. "We don't have real proof that she's cheating on me. She just said she's hanging out with that other football player, Conner."

Annabeth shrugged. "I guess you're right. We don't know for sure she's dating him, or making out with him, or whatever she's doing with him. Who knows? They could be cousins."

"I guess you're right." I nodded, kind of disappointed. If Drew was really cheating on Jason, that would give me another reason to hate her. Because she hurt one of my best friends.

"Didn't you have some mall plans today?" Jason asked. "I can stay home with Lacy and you guys can go do your girl stuff."

I smiled. "Sure. See you in about two hours?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "Cool."

...

"Pink or red?" Annabeth asked, holding up samples of each color nail polish.

"Red looks good with your skin tone," I said.

"What are you getting?" Annabeth handed the light pink bottle of nail polish to her nail painter.

"French nails," I told her. "Simple, yet classy." My nail painter was already getting to work. She had put lotion on my hands and cuticle cream on my cuticles. Now, she was applying a clear coat to my nails.

"So I was thinking," Annabeth said. "I don't want to get my hair colored really. I just want to get a temporary feather in it. You in?"

I nodded. I had gotten tons of temporary feathers in my hair. I just kept forgetting they were there and brushed them out by accident.

After our nails and hair were done, we went shopping. We ended up buying nothing after going to five stores.

Annabeth skipped along. "One more store to go: HOLLISTER!"

"Let's hope we actually get something instead of just trying random stuff on and deciding we're too broke to buy it," I said reasonably.

Annabeth stopped dead in her tracks and turned red. I looked over to where she was gazing, and there stood her crush, Percy Jackson hanging out with Leo and their friend Frank Zhang.

"Go talk to him." I nudged her.

"No way, sister," Annabeth said.

"Well I'm going to go talk to Leo," I said. "Coming with me or not?"

"Coming," Annabeth grumbled.

"What's up, Beauty Queen?" Leo said when he saw me approaching.

"Hey Leo," I said. "What are you doing here?"

Leo stared at me. "Oh, you know. Hunting elephants."

"Haha, very funny," I said.

"Oh." Percy looked past me at Annabeth. "Hey there, Chase."

"Um..." Annabeth stammered. I pushed her forward. "Hi, P-Percy," she mumbled.

"So I was wondering if..." Percy turned red.

"If what?" Annabeth asked.

"If you'd like to go out with me sometime?" Percy said.

Annabeth turned as red as Percy. "I, um, gah."

"She means yes," I said. "When?"

"Does tomorrow after school work for you?" Percy asked.

"No," I replied for Annabeth. "She has a math team competition. How about Tuesday?"

"I have a swim meet," Percy said sheepishly. "Wednesday then?"

"Spelling bee," I informed him.

"I have swimming on Thursday," Percy said.

"Gods." I gave myself a facepalm. "You guys are booked this week."

"You didn't let me finish," Percy said. "We could go after my swimming lesson."

"Annabeth says okay," I said. Annabeth nodded.

Percy leaned in close to me and whispered, "Is she like this all the time?"

"No," I whispered. "She's getting overwhelmed."

Percy smiled and flipped his hair. "Alright. See you then, Annabeth?"

Annabeth managed to get her voice back. "Um yeah. See ya." Percy, Leo, and Frank left.

"Gah," I told Annabeth.

"Ugh," Annabeth slumped. "Gah? That's the best I got?"

"Apparently," I said. "But don't worry. I think he's totally into you."

"I feel bad for you," Annabeth told me. "Your relationship status is totally complicated. He's acting romantic with you one moment, and then completely into Drew the next. What is wrong with him?"

"I dunno," I said. "I just hope we find out what Drew is up to."


	8. Mondays Always Suck

**Hey guys! So you might want to go back and check the other chapters. I changed the dates a bit and I changed Connor into Dylan. So, please read and review! Thanks:) ~Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Mondays Always Suck**

Monday. Hurray.

I was once again on the bus stop bench thinking to myself. Then Jason came and sat down next to me.

"Hey," he greeted me.

I looked up at him. "Hi." A breeze came a long and blew my hair into my face. Jason brushed my hair away and tucked it behind my ear. Then I waited for it... 3,2,1... Here comes the diva.

Honk, honk, HOOOOOOONK!

Drew sat in the driver's seat looking irritated and impatient. "Get over here already! We're gonna be late for school." Jason rushed over to the car and sat down. As they drove away, I heard Drew say, "Why do you even hang out with her?"

Ugh. I can't even explain in words how much I hate that girl. Actually, the big question here is, why does Jason even date Drew? We'll never know. I guess this world is pretty bonkers.

...

Annabeth walked with me to my locker. "You look mad today."

"I'm furious," I told her very calmly.

"Okay." Annabeth entered in my locker combination. "You look like it, but you don't sound like it. There's definitely something wrong with you!"

I laughed and put some unnecessary books that were in my backpack into my locker. "I'm perfectly fine."

Annabeth stared at me. "Do you need an ambulance?"

I slammed my locker shut. "No!"

"You're being really bipolar," Annabeth noted. "And this usually happens when... Ah, was it Drew?"

I angrily kicked a banana peel that was peacefully sitting on the ground waiting to be stepped on. The banana peel slid twelve lockers down.

"What'd she do?" Annabeth asked calmly as we walked to class.

"She showed up for school again today," I grumbled. "If she hates school so much, why won't she just ditch?"

"Her mom wouldn't let her," Annabeth reminded me.

"Right," I said. "Too bad."

"Can I talk to you about my problems now?" Annabeth asked.

"You have problems?" I said.

Annabeth snorted. "Everyone does. But that doesn't matter. I don't know what to wear on me and Percy's first date!"

"You call that a problem?" I said as a dodged a flying backpack.

Annabeth halted and sniffed. "I smell a bully." Annabeth hates bullies. When I mean hate, I mean utterly abhor with a passion. She told me that as a five year old, there was always this sixth grader who cornered her in the halls and demanded lunch money. Yes, that's super typical. Big bully, little kid, lunch money. But usually, the kid gets really scared and hands over the money without hesitation. Being smart and all, Annabeth knew not to do that.

Instead, she was all, "I only bought two dollars. Almost nothing in the United States costs two dollars except for like a pack of three erasers or a small pack of gum. You can basically buy nothing with my two dollars, therefore I will not give you it. Plus... What do you think I am? Stupid? Well, one thing's for sure; I am way smarter than you!" Then she kicked the bully in the shin and ran.

Apparently, that sixth grader was a track star and he caught up to her really fast. He knocked her onto the ground and snatched her lunch money away. Little Annabeth wailed about the bruise on her knee while the kid ran off.

Then Annabeth signed up for karate. In only a few weeks, she was already at a brown belt. So when the bully came for her lunch money again, she judo flipped him and stepped on his face. Since she had him on the ground, she stuck her hand into his pocket and pulled out (gasp!) two dollars.

She stepped off his face and said, "Told you you wouldn't use it!" Then she skipped away happily.

We turned the corner and there was a really big junior cornering a freshmen. The freshman's eyes were widened with fear.

Annabeth walked right up to the guy and slapped him across the face. "Move it, or lose it," she growled. Everyone gasped and started taking out their phones to record the drama.

The junior turned around, and it turns out, it was Dylan. "Who are you to tell me what to do, punk?" He towered over Annabeth by a whole foot, so it looked like he was going to win. Annabeth glared up at him with fierce.

"Leave her alone," Annabeth ordered.

"Make me," Dylan growled.

The five minute bell rang.

"Whatever," Annabeth said. She shoved him. "Get out if my way. I gotta go to class." As Annabeth marched away, Dylan pushed her to the ground. He hovered over her with a threatening look in his eyes.

"Don't you dare shove me," Dylan said.

"And don't you dare push my best friend," I told him, anger boiling inside me. I clenched my fists.

"Don't you tell me what to do," Dylan said. He tried to knock me to the ground to, but I dodged him, and he ended up on the ground instead. He stood up angrily and tried to punch me. I heard Drew's voice yell, "Go Dylan!" and I saw a blur, and suddenly someone was standing right in front of me.

"You shouldn't have done that," Jason Grace said. He put out his foot to trip Dylan and judo flipped him. "Nobody tries to hurt Piper and gets away with it." He was about to throw in a punch when a strict voice cut in.

"That will be enough, boys!" All of the students cheering for Jason or Dylan stepped aside and made a path for the vice principal to step through. He looked sympathetically at the bullied freshmen who was now retrieving her backpack that Dylan had sent flying in the air. "You and Dylan will be going to my office immediately." He turned his attention to me and Annabeth. "Then you two will come join. And afterwards, Mr. Grace." He looked at the rest of the students gathered around us. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. "And you! Off to class!" Students' shoes squeaked as they went off to class silently.

As we five made our way to the office, the music played through the speakers, indicating one minute until class starts. This was horrible. Ugh.

Me, Jason, and Annabeth quietly waited outside the office in little comfortable chairs.

Annabeth groaned. "Great start to sophomore year, huh guys?"

No one answered her, but we all knew the real question. Why did Jason stuck up for me? Why did he protect me, when he could've just gotten a teacher to help me so that he wouldn't get in trouble?

"Hey," I said. "Um, thanks, Jason. I'm really sorry, though."

Jason looked up at me and gave me a half smile. "It's okay, Pipes. I'd do anything to protect my friend. And besides, you were just sticking up for Annabeth. And Annabeth was just sticking up for that freshie girl. And she was being bullied by Dylan , so it's Dylan's fault."

We heard a door open to the waiting room and Drew entered. She smirked and me and Annabeth and smiled sympathetically at Jason. "Oh hey, babe. What are you doing here?"

Jason glowered at her. "You know exactly what I'm doing here. But you were watching Piper and Annabeth get pummeled while screaming 'go, Dylan'."

Drew's eyes widened in fake innocence. "That wasn't me! That was someone else!" She walked over to the printer and took some papers. She glared at me and Annabeth. "I'm outta here, losers."

But there was something about those papers. I still had a spy gadget in my backpack, so I pulled it out. It was a zoom in camera. I took a picture of one of the papers, and took a look at it. It was a flyer with a headline that said, "So Called Tough McLean Loses to a Fight."

Jason and Annabeth stared at the image on the camera.

"But I didn't even fight him," I whined. "You guys did."

Annabeth stood up. "Why I oughtta.."

The vice principal, Mr. Chiron opened the door and let the freshie out. "Come in, Ms. Chase and Ms. McLean."

Jason slumped further into his seat.

Annabeth and I walked in, and Mr. Chiron closed the door behind us. Dylan glared at us from his chair. Mr. Chiron gestured to the chairs next to him. "Take a seat, ladies."

I plunked down in the seat furthest away from Dylan, and Annabeth sat next to me. There was a chair separating Annabeth and Dylan. I was guessing Jason would have to sit there.

Mr. Chiron grabbed his office phone and dialed a number. "Yes, it's Mr. Chiron, Ms. Dodds. Just wanted to inform you that Annabeth will be excused from homeroom today. Mmhmm, yes. Okay, thank you. Bye." He dialed a different number and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Coach Hedge, it's me, Mr. Chiron. Ah yes, I was just calling about Piper and Jason. They will not be making it to homeroom today, so they may be excused. Leo's worried sick? What? Tell him of course they're not dead! Okay, bye."

He finally turned to Annabeth. "Why did you do what you did?"

Annabeth sighed. "What, slap a heartless, stupid, jerk who thinks he's all that but really, he's just a bully? Oh gee, I don't know. That's a toughie."

"I'm serious," Mr. Chiron said.

"Because I hate bullies," Annabeth said. "You expect me to be a bystander while he freaks out the poor girl to death?"

"No, but you didn't have to slap him."

"I had to catch him by surprise," Annabeth pointed out. "And he didn't have to shove me." Annabeth turned to Dylan. "It's not cool to hit a girl! dude."

"I was just getting to that," Mr. Chiron said. "You didn't have to shove her, Dylan."

"Yeah but she was being annoying," Dylan whined.

"You two are acting like kids." Mr. Chiron looked at me. "What about you? Where do you come in?"

"He hurt Annabeth," I said. "I don't like that. So I said 'don't push my best friend'. That's all I did, sir. I never hit him. Then he tried to knock me to the ground and punch me."

Mr. Chiron sighed and let Jason in. He sat down next to Annabeth and inched his chair away from Dylan's.

"Why did you judo flip him?" Mr. Chiron questioned.

"He was trying to hurt Piper, sir," Jason answered.

"So this was all about protecting people?" Mr. Chiron asked.

Me, Annabeth, and Jason nodded. Dylan grunted.

Mr. Chiron sighed. "Piper, you're off the hook. You didn't do anything violent so you may go to your locker, gather your things, and head to first period. Annabeth, three days of detention for slapping Dylan. Jason, a week of detention for you. And I will deal with you, Dylan, after they leave."

Me, Annabeth, and Jason silently let ourselves out.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be," I said to break the silence as we walked to our lockers. Nobody else was in the halls, since they were all in homeroom, so it was pretty nice.

"For you," Annabeth grumbled. "You heard him. You're off the hook. I get three days of detention. Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. I'm just lucky enough I don't have it on Thursday, because that's when I go out with Percy. And I'm lucky math team meet doesn't start until five, and the spelling bee doesn't start until seven. "

"Wow," Jason said. "Is this your first time in detention?"

"No," Annabeth said. "I may be smart, but everyone knows I'm no goody two shoes."

"I'm no goody two shoes either," I said. "I would've gotten in trouble, but Jason cut into the fight, so I didn't get a chance to hit him."

The bell rang and kids got let out of homeroom. The hall started to crowd.

"Well bye, guys," Jason said, "See you in detention, Annabeth."

"See ya," Annabeth said.

Then we parted ways.


	9. Going Down Memory Lane

**Sorry for not updating yesterday :) But here it is! Review please! Love you all :) ~Jackie **

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Going Down Memory Lane**

Annabeth and I sat down at our lunch table. Rachel, Calypso, and Hazel stared at us silently.

"What?" Annabeth snapped.

Calypso gave a small whimper and held up a sheet of paper. A flyer. I knew exactly what this was. I growled, snatched the flyer from Calypso, and read it with Annabeth.

**_So Called Tough McLean Loses to a Fight_**

**_This morning, Annabeth Chase was causing some drama. Dylan Venti was angry about the gossip she was spreading, so he knocked her to the ground._**

**_Then, so called tough Piper McLean got mad at Venti for hurting Chase. I mean she deserved it right? Talk about Drama Queen! Piper threw in some punches and eventually also got knocked to the ground._**

**_So long, touch McLean! Hello, weak little Dumpster Girl!_**

**_-Drew Tanaka_**

Below the extremely short article was a little picture of me glaring at Dylan. I pounded my fist on the table. Drew past by our table with grace, sneering at me. "Dumpster Girl," she hissed. "I told you. You'll never win."

I stood up and glared at her. "You know Drew. Elephants weigh about two hundred pounds at birth."

Drew smirked. "So what?" Everyone in the lunch room was silent by the time Drew said that. As drama thirsty high schoolers, they took out their phones and recorded. This was for sure going to go on Instagram.

"That would make them the biggest babies in the world," I said. "Right after you."

Drew scoffed. "Yeah. Well your mama's so-"

"You're so lame, the only jokes you can make are yo mama jokes," I told her.

She clenched her fists. "You're just so- UGH! Impossible!"

I smiled. "Nothing is impossible."

"Ugh!" Drew stomped her foot. "You think everyone likes you. But no one does! You're just a lame nobody who nobody cares about!"

"I could say the same about you too," I said calmly. "Because you think everyone likes you also, so shut your mouth. I wouldn't say nobody cares about me, because that would be a lie. I'm sorry. I don't need anyone to tell me nobody cares about me and know one likes me. I can figure that out on my own, but I know there are people who like me and people who care."

"Whatever," Drew grumbled. She stalked off to her seat with her little scampering friends whispering about her.

I sat down, Leo walked up to me, and sat on the side of me that Annabeth wasn't sitting on. "That was pretty inspirational, Beauty Queen."

"Drew is such an idiot," I said. "She's so oblivious. Why does Jason even like her?"

Leo whistled. "Looks like someone's jelly."

"Who's jelly?" Jason came over to our table and Hazel gave me a small wink.

"Pi-" Leo started to say. I clapped my hand over his mouth.

"No one's jelly," I told him. I spotted the little plastic container of jelly sitting on Rachel's lunch tray. "I mean nobody's jelly besides, um, Rachel's strawberry coconut jelly. But, uh, other than that, nobody's jealous."

"Smooth." Leo snickered.

Rachel held up her jelly. "Really? Use my jelly as the victim? Okay, you can talk about me, but you cannot talk about my food."

I laughed. "Whatever, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

Rachel gave me a fake glare and went on to eating her jelly.

...

"How was school, Pipes?" Dad asked when I closed the front doors.

I shrugged. "It was okay. More dramatic than usual."

"Well," Dad said. "I need you to pick Lacy up from school today. I have to go somewhere."

We live to far away from Lacy's elementary school for there to be a bus to pick her up and drop her off. Mom usually does it because she only works part time at a beauty salon. Today she was at her friend's house baking. Dad... Well dad's almost always gone the whole day being an actor and all. Although I'm only fifteen, the government made an exception so that I could drive alone with my permit without a parent or adult. They apparently knew about dad while almost nobody else does.

I groaned. I hate driving. I always feel like I'm going to crash even though I'm actually pretty good at driving. Annabeth's usually always at my side when I drive, but she had detention today which sucks.

"Fine." I checked the time. 3:06. Lacy wouldn't be out of school until 3:30, but we live far away from the school so I had to be heading there about now. I grabbed the car keys, went into the garage, and started the car.

On the way there, I started the flashback. Dylan had actually almost hurt me, like bad. He almost punched me, and I'm pretty sure punches hurt. Then there was Jason. He protected me. He cared. Drew was wrong. Jason cared.

Why did Drew hate me anyway? I never did anything to her. I remember the first time we met. I think she had hated me from the beginning for some reason.

We were in preschool. It was the first day. We were all three, four, or five years old. Some kids were even two. But Drew and I were four. Leo was there and Jason too. And a bunch of kids from our high school, but not all of them.

I remember what I was wearing. I was wearing a pair of little jean overalls with a little white bow. I had a white shirt on and sandals. I was so nervous because this was the first time I would be somewhere with no parents. I mean, I had known Leo since we were babies. My parent's met Jason's when we were about two. But other than them, I had no one.

Then a little perky black haired girl came bouncing in with a little pink fluffy dress and Mary Janes. I think she was always jealous of me, Jason, and Leo's friendship.

All through preschool, Drew never had friends. I remember she was always bossing kids around. She even tried bossing me around but I always refused to do what she did. She had grown used to being spoiled and bossing kids around. She would never be used to the fact that I would never be bothered by her or do what she told me to.

Then there was kindergarten a year later. I wasn't as nervous this time, but kindergarten was much longer than pre-school. Some of my friends that went to preschool didn't go to the same kindergarten as me, but Jason and Leo did.

I was wearing a little panda shirt and as always, Drew had to outdo me. She was wearing a fluffy purple dress with a big fat bow and a tiny tiara that clung to her curled hair. Talk about overdressed.

There was this one time she tried to make Jason and I get into a fight. It was like November or something and we each had little mailboxes. She stuck a little paper in Jason's mailbox that had a hot pink picture of a dead stick body on it and said it was from me.

Jason knew my handwriting already. He knew that I was an amazing drawer and I never drew stick people. He quickly figured out it was Drew because she was the only one with a hot pink pen.

Years flew by with Drew still not getting over the fact I would never think of her as anything but a classmate. Jason and I started communicating through our window in second grade when our handwriting was good enough to read. In the spring of third grade, I tried to give her a taste of her own medicine. I tried to outdo her. So I went to school with a white dress that had a puffy skirt. I also wore a jean jacket and ballet flats.

By now, Drew had stopped overdressing, but she apparently picked the same day as me to wear something formal. She had a puffy tutu and a sparkling tiara with -get this- fairy wings! Every girl swooned over her wings and just left me in the dust. That was the day she finally made friends. I remember her hissing at me as she walked by, "You'll never be as good as me."

In seventh grade, I started my first day of middle school and met Annabeth. She immediately hated Drew and her little popular clique. Jason and Leo were also my best buddies. There was this one time she got the exact same score on me for a project and her project looked really similar to mine, but she was in a different class with a different teacher but the same assignment. Then she whispered... "I have people..."

I snapped keeping one hand on the wheel. That's it! She had people. There were people stalking my every move. They weren't necessarily stalking me, but they were watching me. They were watching me in school. If they were watching me out of school, I'd probably call the police. But they were probably not dumb enough to do that.

I looked around me to check to see if no one I knew was following me. Good thing there wasn't, or I would've screamed.

So that's why Drew hated me. I never listened to her when she bossed me around. I had better friends than her. I was smarter than her. Her average grade was a D while mine was an A+. I couldn't believe I hadn't figured this out before.

But I still wondered why Jason agreed to go out with Drew. I tried to remember how it happened. It was in eighth grade when I came home from school. Jason had wanted to talk to me, so we communicated through our window.

I had always had a crush on Jason. Even as a little kid. Well, as a little kid, I had a kid crush. But starting a sixth or seventh grade, I had a real crush on him.

So, he said, Guess what?

Then I had said, What?

I'm dating Drew.

I stared at his notepad for a long time, not sure what to say. I kind of looked down and tears welled up in my eyes. I told him I had to go and quickly shut my curtains before I could start to bawl.

Then I did. I cried my heart out into my pillows and wailed. Poor little Lacy. She was only six and had no idea what was going on. She heard my sobs and came into my room, not sure what to do. She flopped on my bed and started crying along with me, upset that I was crying.

And that was the first day Drew had ever bothered me.


	10. Again? Really?

**Chapter 10 already? Wow guys! Already at double digits! Thanks so much for your support, and please review! Sending virtual hugs and brownies! ~Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Again? Really?**

I walked into the front doors of Lacy's school. I remember when I went to this school. Maple Park Elementary School. I used to be dropped off here all the time by mom, but when I reached fifth grade, she made me ride my bike.

I inhaled the smell of fresh new paint. When I went here, the walls were just plain white. Now, it was painted the colors of the school. The walls were white, and some were green. All of the columns were green, too.

"Is that you, Piper?" A young women who looked about thirty-two years old took a look at me. She was my third grade teacher.

"Ms. Lee!" I said. "Wow, it's nice seeing you!"

"Oh, Piper!" Ms. Lee exclaimed. "You've grown so much! I remember when you were eight! You were so small. What are you now- in ninth, tenth grade?"

"I'm in tenth," I told her.

"Time flies," Ms. Lee whistled.

"Yes," I agreed. "So how have you been?"

"Oh." Ms. Lee showed me her left hand. A diamond ring sparkled. "I got married when twenty nine. Now I have two kids!"

"Oh," I said. "So you're not Ms. Lee, anymore?"

"No," Ms. Lee said. "I'm Mrs. Lee. I decided to keep my last name."

I nodded.

"So," said Mrs. Lee. "What's brought you here?"

"Oh," I said. "Just picking up my little sister."

"Ah," Mrs. Lee said. "Lacy McLean. She's in the other third grade classroom with Ms. Mickelsen. Brilliant girl."

I nodded. I've heard about Lacy being a brilliant girl ever since she was born. Sometimes I got sick of people always comparing her to me, about how she could be even smarter than me, but I got used to it.

When she was first born, I was super jealous of her because she always got the attention. I eventually got used to that too, and I started to love her a lot. I know it sounds weird, but it's true.

Everyone knew Lacy was smart when she was a few months old. She said hew first word at only four months (besides "mama" and "dada"), and that word was the word curious. Mom and Dad even got it on recording. She started to take a few steps at six months and could run the following month.

She's in the Gifted and Talented program right now and Mom and Dad are even thinking of making her skip to sixth grade next year. Lacy protested because she wouldn't be with her friends. I guess that's kind of a stupid idea to wait until Lacy got close friends, and then make her skip. Yep. Real brilliant, guys.

"Piper!" Lacy ran up to me and gave me a big hug. All of her little friends gasped.

"It's Lacy's sister!" one squealed.

"She's a giant," a boy commented.

"I love your hair!" a little girl gushed.

Wow, I never thought I'd be fifteen years old being a nothing in high school and super popular among little elementary school kids.

"Hi, guys," I said. I held out my hand for Lacy to grab. "Well, we gotta get going."

"Bye!" a chorus of kids shouted.

I led Lacy to the car and we both got in. I checked the time. 3:36 Annabeth and Jason should be out of detention in four minutes. I glanced at Lacy's outfit to see if it was okay to wear at a fun place. She was wearing leggings and an oversized short sleeve T-shirt. I decided that since dad was going to be at an interview and mom was at a friend's house, that me, Lacy, Jason, and Annabeth could probably go out and do something together.

"How was school?" I asked Lacy.

"It was fine," Lacy said with a yawn. "Multiplication, adding, subtracting. Mrs. Mickelson said they'll teach us division in fourth grade, but I already know this boring stuff. She said starting tomorrow, she's gonna send me to the sixth grade classroom to learn sixth grade math. I already know that stuff too, but at least it'll be less boring. We also did animal research and we're starting a project on it. All of the girls were doing theirs on bunnies, kitties, and puppies. All the guys doing sharks. They wanted to do dinosaurs, but Mrs. Mickelson told them that they're extinct. I can't believe they actually didn't know that."

"What animal did you do?" I asked, looking at the time. 3:38.

"I did shrimp," Lacy said.

"Shrimp?" I repeated. "Wow. Pretty creative. When I did that project, I did starfish. Every other girl did bunnies and stuff too. They also wanted to do unicorns."

Lacy giggled. "I bet unicorns are real."

"Yeah?" I said. "Why?"

"Because it's scientifically possible," Lacy said. "I mean, horses are real. Then maybe horses were living somewhere cool and they adapted to their environment. You know, evolution. They grew horns and wings and they got lighter, despite their size. I also believe in mermaids, although that's not scientifically possible. But not everything has to do with science."

"That's right," I agreed. Yes! 3:40. "Plug your ears, Lacy."

Without a question, Lacy plugged her ears and started to hum. Since my cell phone was connected to the car (Bluetooth), I tapped the button that read Annabeth and after three rings, Annabeth's voice blasted through the speakers.

"Hello?" Annabeth said.

"Detention over?" I asked.

"Yes," Annabeth replied.

"How was it?" I wondered.

I heard a shuffle. "It was horrible. They took away my phone, sat me next to Jason, and wouldn't even let me do my homework. They said I had to 'think about what I had done.'" I heard a pause as she turned to someone else and said, "Yeah, sure, thanks."

"Who were you talking to?" I questioned.

"Jason's sister," Annabeth said.

"Why?" I asked.

"She's driving me and Jason home," Annabeth told me.

"Tell her not to," I said.

There was a moment of silence. "Uh, why?"

"Did you do all your homework yet?" I asked.

"Yes?" she said, in a questioning tone. "I did everything in last period."

"Of course," I said. "Well, tell Thalia to drop you and Jason off at Zero Gravity. Lacy and I are gonna be there. My treat." Zero Gravity was pretty expensive, so I felt that I should be the one to pay. Since I'm apparently filthy rich.

"Hey, Thalia," I heard Annabeth say. "Piper wants me and Jason to go to Zero Gravity with her and Lacy. Can you drop us off there? She's paying."

I heard muffled talking. Annabeth brought the phone back up to her ear. "Thalia says yes, but only if she can come with."

I laughed. "Wow. Okay. See you there." I hung up and signaled Lacy to unplug her ears.

"I saw your mouth moving," Lacy noted. "And you dialed someone. Who were you talking to that I can't know about?"

"You'll find out," I said, taking an exit off the freeway.

"You took the wrong exit," Lacy informed me.

"Trust me," I told her. "I know what I'm doing." I thought for a bit. "Maybe you should close your eyes for the rest of the drive."

Lacy closed her eyes. "So what about you day?"

"What about it?" I asked.

"How was it?" Lacy asked.

The red light turned on, so I stopped. "I learned a brain trick."

"What was it?" Lacy asked.

"It probably won't work on you," I inferred.

"Tell me," Lacy demanded.

"Here goes nothing," I said. "What word does this spell? S-H-O-P."

"Shop," Lacy said slowly.

"And what do you do at a green light?" I asked.

Lacy opened her mouth, then stopped herself. "Go."

I snapped. "I knew it wouldn't work on you."

"What?" Lacy said.

"You were supposed to say 'stop,'" I informed her. "It's how the brain trick works. Because you were thinking about the word shop, so you would automatically think stop."

Lacy nodded, her eyes still closed. "Clever. Not clever enough to trick me, but still clever."

I rolled my eyes and turned into the parking lot of Zero Gravity. It was pretty full today, but that's what made it fun. I mean, wouldn't it be just awkward and creepy if you and a couple friends were there alone?

I turned off the engine and told Lacy to keep her eyes closed. I opened the door and helped her get out of the car. To keep her from bumping into something, I picked her up and brought her into the building.

We were greeted by the smell of nachos and hotdogs. The sound of laughter and squeals filled the place up to the roof. Many people were talking and going over to laser tag.

Lacy sniffed the air. "Where are we?"

"I'm not telling you until the others get here," I insisted. "Keep your eyes closed."

"The others?" Lacy said it like it was a new word to her. "Who are the others?"

"Oh you know." I sighed. "Just a few unicorns and mermaids."

Lacy giggled. "Stop being so funny."

Still holding Lacy, I stood sat on a waiting bench to get tickets and craned my neck to look for Annabeth, Jason, and Thalia. After four minutes, they finally showed up at the door.

"Hey guys." I smiled. "I'm gonna get tickets." I put Lacy down on the floor. "You can open your eyes now, Lace."

Lacy's eyes flew wide open and she let out an eardrum shattering squeal. "Zero gravity!" She jumped up and down. "Zero gravity. ZERO GRAVITY!"

I laughed and payed for the tickets.

"So what's up, Jason?" I said as we walked towards the climbing wall. I attached the strap to me and adjusted it so it would fit me. Jason did the same.

"Drew broke up with me," Jason said, casually. This wasn't surprising at all.

"Again?" I put on my helmet. Drew and Jason were an on and off couple. During these past two years, they've broken up, like, six times. It was all because Drew was always making a big deal of stupid things. She would always get upset, going on and on about something that he said. She never gets his humor like I do.

"Yep," he said as he put his hands and feet on the first few rocks.

I searched around for a rock beneath my foot to boost me up even higher than I already was. I slipped, and Jason reached over and pulled me up by my waist. My heart raced and my stomach sprouted out butterflies.

"What was the reason this time?" I asked, keeping myself in control. Lacy was rock climbing next to me, Annabeth helping her.

"It was because I got detention for protecting you," he said, sighing.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Well, tomorrow's the first free day she has," Jason explained. "And apparently, I'm wasting that day by being in detention."

I snorted. "Sad."

"Yeah." Jason gave me a winning smile. "Race you to the top."

...

_October 15_

_Wow, there was a lot of drama in the time I haven't written in you._

_So first, our spy mission. It was actually pretty successful. We went to the mall, then we found out that Drew was hanging out with another guy, Dylan. We got it on recording, but we don't know for sure if she's dating him or not._

_Then, after Mission Find OUt What Drew is Up To, we went to the mall and ran into Percy, Leo, and Frank. Percy asked Annabeth out on a date, and they're going somewhere on Thursday after Percy's swim team thing._

_Today, Annabeth and I saw Dylan bullying a poor little freshie. Annabeth was all, "Leave her alone, now get out of my face." And she slapped him, Dylan was all, bang, pow. In other words, he knocked her to the ground._

_I got really pissed and said stuff about how he shouldn't hurt my best friend, because that would make him get on the bad side of me. He got really angry and tried to shove me to the ground. I dodged, and he wounded up on the floor._

_He got so ticked off and tried to punch me. Jason got in the way to protect me. It was pretty cute that he wanted to protect me, but also pretty stupid because he knew he was going to get into trouble._

_Anyway, Annabeth now has detention after school until 2:40 on Wednesday. Jason has it for the whole week._

_Drew got mad at him for getting detention and not being able to hang out with her. She's such a hypocrite since she's been the one blowing him off. So they broke up. That's not surprising because this is like the seventh time they've broken up._

_The first time they broke up, Annabeth wanted to get me to ask him out. So about four days after they broke up, I walked up to him in the hall to talk to him. But then Drew came up out of nowhere and blabbered on about how she and Jason had just gotten back together._

_The second time they broke up, I was about to tell him that I liked him, but then he broke the news to me that he and Drew got back together a few hours ago over text or something._

_I lost hope, because every time those two broke up, they always got back together. It's like I would never win._

_And speaking of the devil, she printed out this whole newspaper flyer thing about how I lost to a fight or something. The flyer was full of fake information. I didn't even fight though, so how could I lose?_

_Life is so complicated sometimes._

_-Piper McLean_


	11. Planning Lacy's Big Day

**Sorry, for not updating in a long time! You know, with Easter and stuff. Well, HAPPY LATE EASTER EVERYONE! Not much happened, but eh. Review please!**

**Chapter 11**

**Planning the Big Day**

Lacy jumped on me in the morning, the same time my evil alarm clock rang.

I groaned and rolled over to slap the sleep button on my alarm clock. "Why are you up so early, Lacy? You're usually not supposed to wake up at 6:00."

"I woke up really early," Lacy told me. "And I couldn't fall back asleep. Because I was thinking. THERE'S ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY! JUST ONE WEEK, PIPER! ONE WEEK!"

I snapped, remembering. "That's right." I yawned. "Have you invited your friends to your party yet? When is it?" I got out of bed.

"No," she said, following me to my bathroom. "It's going to be this Sunday, even though I'm not turning nine until Tuesday. You gotta help me make invitations after school!"

"Okay," I agreed, my hand on the door. "May I please have some privacy, Lace?"

Lacy giggled. "Okay. You have my permission."

...

"What's up?" Annabeth caught up with me after school as I walked to my car. "I thought you were riding your bus today."

"Nah," I said. "Lacy wanted me to come home early to help her plan her party on Sunday. Can you believe her? Her party is on Sunday and she just asked me it help her make invitations." I unlocked my car. "And thought you had detention."

"Well give me a ride then," Annabeth said, opening the door to the passenger seat. "I want to help too. Plus I don't like riding the stinky old bus anyway. And about the detention thing, I decided to have morning detention for an hour today and lunch detention, instead of two hours of detention after school."

I shrugged, getting into the car with her and turning on the engine.

"Any juicy gossip about Jason and Drew yet?" Annabeth asked,

I backed out of the parking spot. "Not yet. Well, yeah, but not anything interesting. I heard a lot of people talking about their break up, although apparently they don't know what happened. They're all making rumors that are all fake. It's really funny actually, knowing the truth while everyone else suffers."

Annabeth laughed. "Yeah, I heard people trying to figure out what's up with them too."

"How are you and Percy?" I asked casually.

Annabeth blushed. "We're okay. He's my lab partner in science. He's really cute and funny."

"Where are you guys going?" I asked.

"Sea World," Annabeth answered.

I stopped at the red light and turned to her. "What? Sea World? On your first date? You know, most people would go to the movies or something. Is he paying for your tickets?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said.

I stepped on the go pedal. "What? Is he out of his mind? Those are, like, ninety dollars!"

"I think it's pretty sweet," Annabeth said. "I mean, what's that to you? You're really rich, so ninety dollars isn't that much to you."

"But I don't use it much," I told her. "I only get a bit for allowance each week. I get money when I babysit, but it's not much. And besides, my parents handle money, not me. So I don't know how little or how much ninety dollars is compared to the amount of money I have."

"Well, wouldn't you pay for my ticket to Sea World if you invited me?" Annabeth questioned.

"Well duh," I replied, motioning for a car to go ahead of me. "But that's different. I know you. You're my best friend."

"Percy and I know each other," Annabeth protested.

"What's his last name?" I asked.

"Jackson," Annabeth answered.

"Favorite color?" I challenged.

"Blue," Annabeth replied.

"Favorite food?" I said.

"Anything dyed blue."

I snorted. "Anything dyed blue? You're dating a weird dude."

"I'm not dating him!" Annabeth turned red. "We're just going on a date. Doesn't mean I'm dating him. And he's not weird! It's cute how much he loves blue."

"Still weird," I muttered under my breath.

"Maybe his dad is a secret movie star too," Annabeth suggested.

"What?" I said.

"That's how he's paying," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's because his dad is a secret movie star."

"Ha!" I said so loudly that it made Annabeth jerk. "You don't know him well enough to know his dad! You know, his parents are one of the most important part of him. Do you even know where his dad is? Ever seen him?"

"No," Annabeth admitted. "But still. I know him. And maybe his mom is a movie star."

"Sally Jackson?" I said. "No way. She works overtime at a burger place. Lives in a small apartment. There's no way she's a movie star."

"That settles it then," Annabeth said. "His mysterious dad is a movie star."

I rolled my eyes and stopped at the gate in front of my house. I rolled down the window and pressed my index finger to the finger scanner. The light turned green.

Yeah, yeah. I guess it's pretty cool. I mean, I've grown up with the finger scanner my whole life, so I get used to it. Sometimes I'm kind of sick of it, because when I'm in a hurry I have to press my finger on it for three whole seconds, and you know, people could do a lot in three seconds. The only fingers it accepts are mine, my parents', Lacy's, and Annabeth's. If we have visitors, there's a little machine that asks for your ID. If you don't have an ID or your ID isn't recognized, there's a little microphone thing. You press the button and tell us who it is, then we'll take a peek at the cameras and open the gates.

I drove into the pathway to my house and then turned into our overly fancy garage.

"PIPES!" Lacy ran up to me and threw her arms around me. She was already home because she has early releases sometimes, which is so unfair. She turned to Annabeth and hugged her as well. "Annabeth!"

"So," I said. "Let's get right to work. I have lots of homework today, so let's hurry. Have you decided your theme yet?"

"PINK!" Lacy shouted.

I wrinkled my nose. "Pink? Are you sure? You did that last year... And the year before..."

Lacy waved me off. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like pink! Pink is fun!"

"Okay then," I said, reluctantly.

"Make a checklist!" Lacy suggested. "That way, we can stay organized!"

I nodded and made a checklist of essential little girl birthday things.

_Cake_

_Invitations_

_Food_

_Dessert_

_Decorations_

_Outfits_

"What kind of cake do you want?" Annabeth asked.

"A pink one!" Lacy said. "With three whole layers and tiny decorations. We can get it at that one bakery!"

"Baked With Love?" I asked.

"That one!" Lacy nodded.

Annabeth snorted. "That's a creative name."

"Annabeth and I can go check out the cakes on Friday after school," I said, reasonably. "Then we'll pick it up probably an hour before your birthday."

Lacy's eyes gleamed.

_Cake- PINK! Three layers with lots of decorations from Baked With Love._

"Invitations," Annabeth said. "Let me guess. Pink?"

Lacy nodded furiously. "Pink with lace and bows."

"What do you want it to say?" I asked her.

"'You are cordially invited to Lacy's perky, pink birthday party'?" Lacy said.

"Are you sure?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows. "Sounds a little, I don't know, odd? Fancy?"

"I like fancy!" Lacy exclaimed.

"You're one odd cookie," I told her.

"I prefer macaroons," Lacy informed me.

_Invitations- also PINK! With lace and bows. And other fancy stuff. Says "You are cordially invited to Lacy's perky, pink birthday party!"_

"So, food," Annabeth said, analyzing my list. "What kind of food would you like, Lace?"

"Different types of tiny, cute, sandwiches cut into neat triangles!" Lacy said, enthusiastically. "Egg salad, chicken salad, tuna, breakfast, and ham and cheese!"

"That's the first thing you said today that was normal," I noted.

Annabeth nodded. "So we can order the sandwiches the day before the party, and pick it up while we're picking up the cake?"

"Yeah," I said, turning to Lacy. "Where do you want the sandwiches to be from?"

"DELIcious," Lacy said, emphasizing the deli part because that was the name of the restaurant.

Annabeth snorted again. "Haha. Punny. Where do people get all these restaurant names?"

I shrugged.

_Food- egg salad, chicken salad, tuna, breakfast, and ham and cheese sandwiches from DELIcious._

"Dessert?" Annabeth said.

Lacy licked her lips. "MACAROONS! Pink and white ones, if you please. Vanilla and red velvet cupcakes with pink frosting, coconut shavings, and raspberries. The yummy frosting, not the gross cheap ones. Those cookies with pink frosting on top and white sprinkles. Chocolate chip cookies made from pink batter, and the chocolate chips are WHITE chocolate chips. Strawberry smoothie with lots and lots of whipped cream! Red velvet cake pops dipped in dark chocolate and drizzled with pink drizzle stuff. Last of all, strawberry pie!"

I stared at her. "You are a very specific, picky little girl."

"So we order them probably on Friday and pick them up along with the cake at Baked a With Love?" Annabeth said.

"Mmhmm," Lacy said.

"And we can bake the cookies ourselves on Saturday," I told Lacy.

"I love baking," Lacy said.

_Desserts- pink and white macaroons, vanilla and red velvet cupcakes with pink frosting topped with raspberries and coconut shavings, cookies with pink frosting and white sprinkles, chocolate chip cookies made from pink batter and white chocolate chips, strawberry smoothie with whipped cream, red velvet cake pops dipped in dark chocolate drizzled with pink drizzle stuff, and strawberry pie_.

"Decorations," Annabeth said. "I have a feeling this'll be another big one."

Lacy nodded.

I held up my hands. "Hold up, Lacy. This is your ninth birthday, not your sixteenth, so don't make it too big, or your sweet sixteen won't seem big enough."

Lacy groaned. "Fine. I want light pink and dark pink streamers hanging from the ceiling, pink and white balloons in every corner of the house, a banner that says 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LACY" on the wall next to the dining table, and a small bouquet of flowers clinging to every door of the house."

"Okay then," I said.

"So we'll pick up all that stuff at Target or something on Friday after going to the bakery," Annabeth said.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

Lacy squealed.

_Decorations- light and dark pink streamers hanging from ceiling, pink and white balloons, banner that says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LACY!", bouquets of flowers on every door._

"So what would you like to wear?" Annabeth asked.

"Hmm." Lacy tapped her chin. "A fluffy pink dress with lots of layers and sparkles. And ribbons in my hair, like always. I want pretty white flats, too."

"Okay," I said. "I'll get those as a birthday present for you. I can give it to you a few hours before your party, to see if you like it."

"Yay!" Lacy said. "So, can we work on the invitation now?"

"Sure," I said. "We can run to the store fast, pick up a template, and fill it in."

"Okay!" Lacy agreed, already heading for the door.

...

Annabeth and I talked as Lacy walked through the endless rows of birthday cards for girls.

"What should I wear to my date with Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"You're freaking too much," I told her. "Just play it cool. You don't have to wear anything too fancy. Just wear something fun and cute."

"Fun and cute," Annabeth repeated. "I guess I could pull something off."

Lacy rushed up to me and tugged on my shirt. "I found the perfect one!" Sure enough, it was exactly as she wanted. It was light pink and shimmery outlined in white lace. There were tiny, tiny bows in two corners, and pearls running across the middle.

"It's cute," someone said from behind me.

I turned around and saw Jason approaching us. Why is it that wherever I've been going these past few days, I run into someone I know?

"Jason!" I said, turning red. "What are you doing here?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you know, hunting elephants."

I squinted at him. "Not funny. First Leo, now you."

"Well, there's nothing you could do in Target besides shop." Jason chuckled his really cute chuckle. I felt my face get hot.

"What are you shopping for?" I asked.

"Blankets and stuff for a baby shower," Jason answered. "What about you?"

"Invitation templates for Lacy's birthday party," I said.

Lacy waved the invitation around.

Jason bent down to look at Lacy. "Am I not invited to this party?"

"You are!" Lacy said. "Because Piper and Annabeth will have lots to take care of there, and you have to help! It's this Sunday!"

"Do I really?" Jason said.

"Yes!" Lacy said, taking a few more cards from the stand.

"Okay then," Jason said. "See you tomorrow, Annabeth and Pipes. See you at your party, Lacy."

As he walked off, I thought about how awesome of a couple we would make. Especially now that Drew's out of the way.

_You belong with me, Jason, _I thought._ You belong with me_.


	12. Just the Thing We Need

**AGH! Haven't updated in THREE WHOLE DAYS! :) Anyway, kinda shirt chapter, but I've been busy lately. :( REVIEW PLEASE! **

**Parkerc1225 - I think those are the numbers haha: I can't make them have powers because this is an AU (alternate universe) story as it says in the summary. But I like the way you think :)**

Yes! Finally done making Lacy's invitations and now, I'm doing homework with Annabeth in my homework room with two desks. After finding some invitations for Lacy, we also picked up some stuff my mom texted me to buy. We made the invitations and by then, it was about 5:30 so we decided to eat. It's like 6:00 now, and if we finished our homework early we could probably something fun.

"Ready for the test on Greek gods tomorrow?" Annabeth asked, spinning her office chair around to look at me.

I put my pencil down and looked up from my math homework. "Excuse me, ma'm?"

Annabeth gave me the you're so irresponsible look that she's been giving me since the day we met. "You forgot about it? We have the test in history tomorrow."

I groaned and leaned back on my chair. "Really? I must've fallen asleep today in class. I was really pooped out from Zero Gravity. What's the test on?"

"Greek gods," Annabeth said, slowly. "Like I said earlier."

"Oops," I said. "Sorry. I must've zoned out on that part too."

Annabeth slowly put her head in her hands, probably indicating I was a really slow poophead. Which I probably was, but that's besides the point.

"Okay," I said, putting my finished math homework into my backpack. "Help me study."

Annabeth is really smart, obviously. So I trust that she pays attention in class. Whenever I don't pay attention in class, she always knows what to do. Has she failed me ever? Nope.

"Who is the god of the sea?" Annabeth asked, putting down her pencil.

I snorted. "Easy. Poseidon."

"Name another thing he is the god of," Annabeth challenged.

"Horses," I answered, confidently.

"Correct," Annabeth said. "What is Hades the god of?"

"The Underworld," I stated.

"Who is Aphrodite's husband?" Annabeth asked.

"Hephaestus," I said. "But she cheats on him with Ares."

"Okay," Annabeth said. "Name the three maiden goddesses."

"Hestia," I began. "Athena, and Artemis."

"You're probably ready," Annabeth said. "I mean, you pay attention in class. Well, most of the time, at least."

After putting in all my notebooks, folders, textbooks and pencils, I zipped up my backpack and grabbed it. "Ready to go to my room and do random stuff?"

"Yup!" Annabeth said, getting up from her chair and grabbing her backpack. "I did all of my homework in last hour, so I just had to study right now."

My room was pretty close to my office, so we were there within a few seconds. I love my room! It gives me a warm, happy, and comfy feeling inside! Whoa, that sounded like something Lacy would say.

Knock, knock, knock!

I perked up and got my notepad from under the bed.

"Looks like your boyfriend's ready to talk," Annabeth said.

I rolled my eyes. "He's not my boyfriend."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "But he could be."

I pulled my curtains away and say Jason smile that smile that he always gives me when I see him.

_What's up? :) I see you still have Annabeth with you._

Annabeth smiled sweetly.

_Nothing much. We were just, you know, doing homework. Studying. And yeah. What about you?_

_Waiting very patiently for Halloween._

_Oh, really? What are you going as?_

_A teenager going trick or treating. Haha, I couldn't think of anything._

_Annabeth and I are going as teddy bears :) RAWR_

Annabeth laughed. "'Annabeth and I are going as teddy bears. RAWR.'"

I slapped her forearm lightly. "Whatever. I wasn't thinking."

"You're never thinking," Annabeth said, partially laughing and trying to collect herself.

Jason smiled and scribbled on his notepad.

_RAWR means "I love you" in dinosaur._

Annabeth squealed loudly and shook me hard. "HE JUST SAID THAT RAWR MEANS I LOVE YOU IN DINOSAUR. COULD HE POSSIBLY BE IMPLYING THAT HE LOVES YOU?"

I smiled to myself, writing furiously on my notepad. I held it up.

_RAWR 3_

When I looked up to see his reaction, I saw that he had left. Annabeth patted me on the back. "I think his mom called him down."

I sighed and closed my curtains. "Why is it that whenever I work up the courage to do something, nobody ever gets to know?"

"I dunno," Annabeth said, shrugging. "I think you should keep that, though. You know, just in case."

I sighed, ripped out the paper that said RAWR 3, folded it, and put it on my night table.

"I hope I use you soon, buddy," I whispered to it.

...

The next day, I yawned as I walked through the school hallway. I readjusted the flannel tied to my waist and sleepily continued. I reached a crowd of people, and the moment I came, they instantly hushed and started talking in low voices. Huh. Weird.

"Boo!" I felt someone jump on me and I flinched.

"Annabeth," I said, turning around. "How many times have I told you not to do that? There are times when I might make weird noises when I'm surprised or something."

Annabeth shrugged and walked along with me. We reached a lump of people in the hallway, causing traffic. But as we approached, people parted so we could get through. I heard the low whispered again. What...?

"Do you feel a little uncomfortable?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," I said, softly. "Why are they making way for us and talking about us like we're Drew and her clique?"

"I don't like this," Annabeth said. "I don't like this at all."

I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Remember when you smelled that bully?" I looked around, scanning the crowd.

"That was good," Annabeth recalled. "I was actually right,"

"Uh huh," I said, distracted. "I smell a rat this time."

Then there was Drew walking through the crowd, her eyes red and puffy, her mascara running making her eyes look bruised. I took out my phone, hit the record button, and put it in my pocket. I know that after these little situations, Drew usually snarls something really quiet in my ear so no one can hear but me and Annabeth. This time, my phone would hear it too, and I'd have proof of what Drew's been doing to me my whole life.

"What's going on?" Annabeth whispered.

"She's up to something," I stated the obvious.

Drew pointed at me and started talking to her little clique of girls that were making sad noises and patting her back, comforting her. "That's her! It's Dumpster Girl She's got to be the one."

"What?" I put both my hands up, signaling my innocence to whatever the drama Queen was planning. "Whatever you're talking about, I am one hundred percent not aware of."

"She's playing the innocent card," a girl hissed.

"Ha," I said. "I'm not playing it, I'm kind of living it. What are you blaming me on this time?"

"Since when have I blamed you on anything you didn't do?" Drew asked, dramatically wiping her tears away.

"At least once every month," I muttered.

"Excuse me?" Drew snapped.

"Just tell me what you're blaming me on this time, Drew," I said.

She shoved a crumple of papers in my direction and put her hand on her forehead like she was in some kind of soap opera.

I uncrumpled the papers to see that I was holding the school newspaper in my hand. On the front page was just a bunch of messages from the principal about homecoming. I didn't get why she have me this.

"What's this for?" Annabeth asked, peering over my shoulder.

"Page four," Drew said. "Gossip column."

I knew this column all too well. This column was written by some of the stupid popular girls who had nothing to do but write about other people's lives. Annabeth and I had been on there last year, but only because we had the highest grades of ninth grade.

"'Girl convinces Jason to break up with Drew'?" Annabeth read aloud. "'On Monday, a fight broke out between Dylan and Piper. Piper was losing, and Dylan was about to hit her, but Jason got in the way and protected Piper and that's when all Hades broke out. We don't know what was going through his mind to protect such a useless girl, but we think that she hypnotized him. Afterwards, Jason broke up with Drew, but why would he? Someone must've told him to. Later, we found a picture of a girl and Jason hanging at Zero Gravity, and we're pretty sure that was the same girl who told him to break up with Drew. The girl was later identified as Piper McLean.' What is this?" Annabeth stomped her foot. "This is- this is bull crap! Piper would never do that. And hypnotize? Really? Hypnotize? You guys think Piper can just randomly magically hypnotize Jason to like her? She's just a highschool girl who is one hundred percent not a hypnotist. Besides, Jason wasn't even the one who broke up with Drew. Drew was the one who broke up with Jason. Oh my gods. Whoever wrote this is just stupid. Just stupid. And you don't even know how to write a good paragraph." She huffed. "Have you taken English class at all?"

"Lies!" Drew exclaimed, wiping off her running mascara. "Denial means that you're just trying to protect your friend, even when it's not true! You're lying, she, like, totally hypnotized him."

The warning bell rang.

"Now, if you excuse me," Drew said. I have to get to class."

_Here comes the snarling remark_, I thought to myself.

"You'll never win, Dumpster Girl," she hissed, loud enough for my phone to hear as she brushed by. "I have everything planned out. Don't think just because I broke up with Jason, you've won."

I smiled, sweetly.

"What are you smiling at?" Drew demanded.

I didn't reply.

"Get out of my way." Drew shoved me to the side.

I shrugged. As she walked away, I stopped the recording on my phone. Great. This was all I needed to get Drew back for everything. To show how much of a bully she was. To tell everyone that Drew Tanaka was, well, bull crap.

...

After school, I showed Annabeth the video that I had recorded at her house. Although the voices were slightly muffled, but you could make out who all they belonged to and what they were saying.

"Wow," Annabeth said, when the video was over. "This is the exact kind of thing we need to ruin Drew's social life."

I nodded. "I know, right? That's what I was thinking."

"When should we release this interesting weapon of ours?" Annabeth asked, hungry for revenge.

"Not yet," I said. "We have to wait until she does something else. Something bigger."

"I can't wait any longer," Annabeth whined.

"Patience, my young one," I said, picking up Annabeth's cat and stroking it. "Patience."


	13. Greatest Day of Sophomore Year

**AHA! Longest chapter yet! PLEASE REVIEW AND FAVORITE AND FOLLOW AND ALL OF THAT STUFF! Thanks for staying with me, guys! LOVE YOU! ~Jackie**

* * *

**C****hapter 13**

**Greatest Day of Sophomore Year**

I sat quietly at my desk a few hours after school had ended on Thursday, scrolling through my feed on Instagram. Apparently, no one who had watched the fight on Monday had bothered to post a video of it, so no one else knew what had happened and they probably all believed Drew's stupid newspaper flyer thingy. Groan.

I scrolled some more. Selfie, like. Selfie, like. Tbh, like. Group picture of some girls in soccer, like. Rates, like. Selfie from someone who gets on my nerves but I still follow anyway because that's how Instagram works, ignore. Picture of school newspaper that I haven't read yet and picture of me and Drew in the hall, like, like. I continued to go down my feed... Wait what?

I went back up to the picture of the newspaper posted by miranda_loves_flowers, one of the most drama seeking girl in the school. Figures. She was the reporter on the school's news channel and one of the writers for the gossip column. Miranda actually used to be a pretty nice girl in elementary school. She had a crazy love for flowers (she still does now) and would always help water the school garden. That girl was nice to everyone, even the big kid Clarisse who loved to stick people's heads down toilets. I think eighth grade is when Miranda started being a drama freak. Popular? I wouldn't say that, but everyone knows her because she's always in their business.

_Piper steals Drew's boyfriend_, it read. _#omg #drama #TotallyExciting #NewsChannelWorthy #SlutMuch? #DrasonForever #WhoWouldShipJasper #LikeForDrason #DRASONWILLBEBACK_.

Oh. My. Gods. No. Way. Talk about #MAPOTI. (Most Annoying People On the Internet. According to Ryan Higa.) That girl actually called me a slut. I, Piper McLean, was one hundred percent NOT a slut. Everyone knew that. Even people who hated me knew that. Miranda was such an attention seeker.

There weren't many likes, but a lot of comments. I mean, since I was apparently a nobody, people didn't hate me much. So not many likes. There's a reason people call others nobodies. It's because nobodies don't stand out. They're not noticed. And if they're not noticed, they're not hated.

_**SilenaB**: Piper didn't do anything to be hated on_.

_**leomcshizzleman**_: _FAKE. FAKE, I SAY_.

_**annabeth_chase**: &amp;^%*$#(?+ !/ I SWEAR ON THE GODS I WILL FIND YOU, AND I WILL EAT YOU. ALIVE._

_**underwood**: I really don't understand why Drew hates Piper_

_**drew_t21:** shut upp, Grover everyone hates Piper._

I groaned as I turned off my phone and set it on the table. Up to around now, my life had been great drama free. If I hadn't developed a stupid crush on Jason, my life would've probably still been drama free. Sighing, I looked out the window. It was a beautiful day, the birds were chirping a song that sounded like it could've come from a Disney movie, and the sun was shining. Too good of a day to sit around moping in my room.

I dialed Annabeth's number and she picked up.

"Hello?" she said.

"You and the girls want to go to the beach?" I asked. "Meet me at my house whenever you're ready."

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Percy said our date is actually going to be on Saturday so we have more time. Be there in a flash."

I tapped in Calypso's number and she picked up, but was still talking to someone else.

"No, dad," she was saying. "I don't have a crush on Percy. I just think he's cute and sweet and adorable and nice and funny... NO! I said 'I don't!'"

"Sounds like you have a crush on him to me," I commented. I heard a thump, probably Calypso dropping her phone in surprise.

"Sorry about that," Calypso said, picking up her phone... I think.

"Repeat that please?" I said, flopping onto my bed.

"Uh, sorry about that?" Calypso said, in a questioning tone.

"Before that," I told her.

"I said I don't?" Calypso said.

"Even before that," I said, slowly.

"NO?" Calypso shouted loudly.

"Before that one too," I said.

I could basically feel Calypso's face get hot. "Funny?"

"The whole sentence," I demanded.

"I just think he's cute," Calypso grumbled.

"There's more," I said.

My friend sighed. "And sweet and adorable and nice and funny..."

"And you failed to tell me this how?" I said, starting to laugh.

"I couldn't because you would tell Annabeth," Calypso muttered. "And Annabeth likes Percy."

"I won't tell her," I said. "Besides, I'll probably forget. And even if she does find out, she won't care."

"Back in elementary, Percy told me he liked me," Calypso said. "Do you suppose he was lying?"

"Maybe he liked both of you guys," I suggested.

"You can't love two people," Calypso reasoned. "That's just not how love works."

"I dunno, Calypso," I said, kind of awkwardly.

"I asked him out in middle school and he said he'd get back to me," Calypso said. "I thought he really seemed to like me. I thought he actually would get back to me. But he didn't." I heard her sigh. "Boys stink, don't they?"

I thought about my problem with Jason. "Yeah. They do." I cleared my throat. "But um, to forget about Percy and all, wanna go to the beach?"

I heard a shuffle. "Yeah, totally. I think that's a good idea."

"Okay," I said. "See you then." I hung up and called Hazel.

"What's up, Piper?" Hazel said, obvious that she read the caller ID.

"Wanna go to the beach?" I asked.

"Erm," Hazel mumbled. "You know that me plus a bathing suit equals a not very comfortable feeling."

"Come on, Hazel," I urged. "Calypso and Annabeth are coming. I'm about to call Rachel up and ask."

"Fine," Hazel said. "But don't expect me to swim or anything. I'm just going to wear a bathing suit and a wrap and sit there and read."

"Fine by me," I told her. "Now let me call Rachel."

I tapped on Rachel's name and she picked up. "Sorry, but you make this quick, Piper?"

"Boy," I said. "I feel the love around here."

"Sorry," Rachel apologized. "I'm just really busy right now. My dad wants me to attend this stupid business meeting thing to take notes and boring stuff and I'm, like, way behind."

"So I take it as you can't go to the beach?" I said. "The girls and I were planning to go today."

Rachel groaned. "The beach? Lucky. I can't. I would love to, but, ugh. You know my dad. Always wanting me to grow up like him."

"It's okay, Rachel," I said. "Maybe next time?"

"If I can find time," she said, before hanging up.

"Huh," I said to the dead phone line.

I slipped on a teal bikini, put on a loose white cardigan, and stuck some sunglasses into my hair. Annabeth showed up in her baseball hat, dark green bikini top, and black swim shorts with Calypso in her white rimmed sunglasses and a really cute white halter one piece with gold sparkles on some of the sides. A few minutes later, Hazel's ID popped up on the machine next to the front doors. She came in a two piece 40's styled swimsuit that barely showed her stomach and a beach hat.

"Let's hit the road!" Annabeth exclaimed, hopping into the passenger seat of my car.

I grabbed some colorful beach towels, opened the driver seat, and got in. Hazel and Calypso got into the back, taking some towels from me.

"So what's up with all of you guys?" I asked, backing out of the driveway and driving down the path to the gate.

Hazel shrugged. "Lots and lots of homework, that's all I know."

I snorted and used my gate opener to open the gate. "Then why are you going to the beach with us?"

"Nico and Bianca helped me finished it," Hazel replied. "You know, my stepbrother and stepsister."

"The di'Angelo's?" Annabeth said. "They're pretty nice."

"Yeah," Hazel said. "I'm lucky that I'm not stuck with some evil stepsisters who make me do their laundry."

"If you guys live with your dad since both if your moms died," Calypso said. "Then how come you still have your moms' last name?"

"I never thought about it, actually," Hazel said, tapping her chin. "I guess my dad wants us to keep our moms' last name to remember them."

Nico and Bianca's mom died when they were really little, so they lived alone with their dad for a few months. Then, their dad, Hades, met Hazel's mom and they had Hazel. They lived happily with Hazel, Nico, and Bianca until Hazel's mom died in a cave on vacation or something. Ever since then, the three have lived with their dad trying to find happiness in their lives. Especially Nico, I think he's depressed. Bianca's pretty happy and so is Hazel. Nico can be pretty funny but in a really quiet way.

I pulled up next to a store along the street next to the beach and turned off the engine. I tucked my rolled up white towel under my arm, put a beach chair under my other one, stepped out onto the street, and walked around the car to the sidewalk. Annabeth draped her Hello Kitty towel over her shoulders, took her chair, and followed me. Calypso tied her ocean colored towel around her waist to make it easy to carry her beach chair and Hazel tucked her red towel under her arm with the beach chair under the other like I did.

The beach wasn't too crowded or lonely today, so we only had a little trouble finding a good spot to set our beach chairs down. I closed my eyes and inhaled the fresh sea scent. The sound of little kids laughing and waves rolling onto the soft sand was really relaxing. It wasn't that odd for it to be this warm in October in California. People are always at the beach in October. Just because the date says it's fall, doesn't mean the weather does.

"Should we just sit here and talk first?" Calypso asked, taking the towel off from her waist and setting it onto her chair.

"Sure," Hazel said, sitting on the side edge of her chair.

Annabeth set her towel on the ground next to her, put on her sunglasses, and laid down to tan. "I think that would be a good idea."

I sat on the edge of my chair too. "Yeah. Sure."

"So, Piper," Calypso said, leaning in. "Have you made a move yet?"

I felt my face get hotter than the sand. "What?"

"You know who I mean." Calypso rolled her eyes.

"Ja-son," Hazel said, enunciating each syllable carefully, even though there were only two.

"What?" I scoffed. "No?"

"You know," Annabeth said, taking off her sunglasses. "It's only going to be a matter of time before he gets back with Drew. You gotta be quick."

"See," I said. "That's the thing. He's going to get back together with Drew. He always does. Which means he doesn't need me."

"I don't think he even likes Drew," Hazel pointed out.

"Yeah," Calypso agreed. "There must be some other reason he keeps getting back with Drew... Blackmail, maybe?"

Hazel nodded.

"Mmm," Annabeth said. "Maybe that devil knows something about Jason that Jason wants no one else to know."

I shrugged and turned to Hazel. "So how are you and your little crush?"

"Frank?" Hazel said, blushing a bit.

"Yes, Fe-rank," I said, mimicking what Hazel had said about Jason.

"Oh, you know." Hazel fidgeted. "We're only friends. Plus, he's like, a junior."

"So?" Annabeth said. "You're a sophomore."

"That's true," Hazel said. "But I just turned fourteen, remember?" Hazel skipped a grade back in elementary when it was easy to skip, so she's younger than all of us.

"Age is just a number," Calypso said, snorting at her cheesy comment.

"No, you're right," I said. "Age is just a number. And you guys are only two years and a few months apart. You could date him if you wanted."

"Date who?" a voice said. We all turned to see Frank, Jason, and Percy. The voice came from Frank.

Hazel smiled, sheepishly. "No one."

Frank had this weird expression on his face as he kind of gave her a half smile. Jealousy? No, couldn't be.

But, really. This was kind of driving me nuts. Everywhere I had been going, I was running into Jason. I thought this kind of thing only happened in books...

Percy turned red as he stared at Annabeth in her bikini. "Hi, Annabeth."

Calypso looked down, most likely trying to avoid eye contact.

"Percy," Annabeth greeted him from her chair.

"Well," Percy said, taking off his shirt. "I'm going to go for a swim. How about you guys?"

Annabeth's eyes literally popped out of her head as she started at his abs, but she remained cool. She can always remain cool. "Yeah, sure." She stood up and yanked on me.

"What?" I said. "Swimming? With them?"

"Is that a problem?" Jason asked, taking off his shirt as well.

I gulped. "Erm, no." I took off my wrap and sunglasses. I think I may have caught Jason staring at me for a bit, but I must've been hallucinating or something. Jason Grace? Checking me out? Haha, that's hilarious. Keep dreaming, Piper.

"Where's Leo?" I asked.

"He's, uh, helping his dad fix their car," Jason told me. Was he still staring at me?

"Who's Leo?" Calypso asked.

"Oh, you know Leo," I said. "One of my best friends. Curly hair. Tan. Nut job."

"Oh, him," Calypso said. "He's kind of annoying."

"In a good way," I said.

"Eh," Calypso said.

Hazel picked up a book. "I'm just going to sit here and read while you guys go swim."

"Are you sure?" Frank asked, making a puppy face.

Hazel gave him a half smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine." What was it with these two and half smiles?

"Uh, okay," Percy said. He flashed a huge smile. "Last one in is a dead fish!" He started to run towards the water.

"You mean rotten egg?" Frank called, running after him.

"No!" Percy shouted, still sprinting, dodging kids with shovels on the way. "I know exactly what I'm saying, Chinese-Canadian Baby Man!"

"Boys," Annabeth said to me before running after them with Calypso.

"You don't want to be the dead fish, do you?" Jason asked.

I laughed. "No."

"Okay." Jason scooped me up and started running after them.

"Jason, put me down!" I squeaked.

"No!" Jason yelled, running past Annabeth and Calypso.

"Please!" I said as he passed Frank.

"Still no," he said, almost to the water. Percy was already in.

"Let me go!" I demanded as the water started to come up to Jason's waist.

"Okay," Jason said. "If you say so." He dropped me into the water with a huge splash.

The water was cold and refreshing since it was hot out. As soon, as I comprehended what had just happened, I surfaced, hearing laughter from my friends.

"Oh, I see how it is." I brushed away the wet hair plastered to my forehead. Jason held out his hand to help me up, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him in with me.

We thrashed for a bit in the water, before he helped me up by my waist. We stared into each other's eyes before realizing he basically had his hands on my butt.

"Oh," Jason said, pulling his hands away. "I, um, sorry. I don't do that. I'm not that kind of guy."

I raised an eyebrow. "Somehow I don't find that entirely convincing."

Percy laughed. "Oooooh! Jason and Piper sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Jason smiled and looked at me. "Is that what you think? Because, you know, I'd be totally cool with that."

I felt my face turn as red as a tomato. Not knowing what else to do, I shoved Jason back into the water. He came up laughing so hard, I thought he might burst.

This was probably the greatest sophomore year could get.


	14. Dream Come True

**Hey guys! So, I think this is one of my longest chapter ever! Happy reading, and pleas review! You guys are the best! I love you maybe as much as I love donuts, but we'll see about that!~Jackie**

**Chapter 14 **

**Dream Come True!**

I woke up earlier than I was supposed to the next morning, silently congratulating myself for such an awesome day. Today, the weather was even nicer than yesterday. Maybe today would be an even better day than yesterday!

5:45. That would give me just the perfect amount of time to write in my diary on such. A happy. Day!

_October 19 _

_Halajqlsisnlaiahlq! HALQNWODHEN!_

_Yeah, I just can't find the right words to express. My. HAPPINESS! _

_So usually, Jason and Drew get back together within about one and a half days of their breakup. IT'S BEEN THREE DAYS! WHOO WHOO! _

_But that's not the only reason I'm happy. Yesterday, me, Annabeth, Calypso, and Hazel went to the beach. And I know this is crazy, but we ran into JASON, Percy, and Frank. CRAZY, right? Wherever I go, BAM! Jason poofs in front of me out of nowhere. _

_But boy, am I glad he did. Percy was all, "LAST ONE TO THE WATER'S A DEAD FISH!" Then he started running, and so did Frank, Annabeth, and Calypso. _

_Jason turned to me and said something like, "You don't wanna be the dead fish, do you?"_

_I shook my head, and he scooped me up and started running towards the water! I started telling him to put me down over and over. When he got into the water, I told him to put me down again. He said, "Okay," and then dropped me! _

_I pulled him in and we laughed and splashed each other. Then we surfaced and kind of stared at each other for a long, long, LOOOONG time. And OH MY GODS! He was grabbing my butt... _

_Apparently, we didn't realize that until about a minute later. When we did, he took his hands off and told me that he wasn't that kind of guy. I told him I wasn't entirely convinced. _

_Percy laughed and hooted, "JASON AND PIPER SITTING IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" _

_And SQUEE! _

_Jason said to me, "Is that what you think? Because I'd be totally cool with it." _

_I didn't know WHAT THE HECK to do because I was so embarrassed and slightly, ahem, flattered. So I pushed him back into the water and he came up laughing really hard. _

_Then, we all went to a diner and ate dinner. Jason SAT RIGHT NEXT TO ME! He even offered to buy me my meal, but I refused. He started insisting to let him pay, so I finally agreed to let him pay for half of my meal. He's so cute and romantic! _

_At about 8:30, we all went out to eat ice cream at an ice cream parlor that offered really good ice cream. Jason bought it for me before I could protest of course. OH MY GODS, OH MY GODS, OH MY GODS!_

_I think last night was a pretty great night, too. Jason came with me through the gates if my house to my double doors. He hugged me goodbye and then waved. _

_I basically freaked the whole night, let's just say that. _

_-Piper McLean_

...

"Excited for your little date with Percy tomorrow?" I asked Annabeth while walking to my bus.

Annabeth lifted her chin. "It depends." Of course. Good old Annabeth. Never showing how she really feels inside.

"Haha, right," I said. "I think you're really excited. I think Percy really likes you and you really like Percy."

"I dunno, Piper," Annabeth said.

I stopped in front of my bus. "Good luck on the date tomorrow. I think you'll really rock it!"

Annabeth laughed. "I don't need luck." She hugged me. "But thanks. Bye!"

"Bye, Annabeth!" I said, walking onto my bus.

The bus was stinkier than usual. I pinched my nose. Ugh, gross. It smelled like a slaughter house. Okay, maybe not as bad... Okay, maybe not even close to that gross slaughter house smell. The gross smell of meat being chopped up and poor animals... Shudder.

"Can I sit here?" a voice asked.

I looked up to see Jason. "Jason! What are you doing here?"

"I took morning detention instead of afternoon," he told me.

"But doesn't Drew usually...?" I paused, realizing the obvious. "Oh."

"Yeah," Jason said, slightly smiling. "So can I?"

"Can you what?" I asked, confused.

"Can I sit here?" Jason said, slowly.

"I don't know," I said, giving him a grin. "Can you?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "Move over, Pipes."

I scooted closer to the window and smiled.

"So, I was thinking," Jason said. The bus driver started the engine.

"Uh huh," I said. "And what were you thinking?" The bus driver started to drive.

"That, uh, we should do something together tomorrow," he mumbled under his breath. He played with his backpack straps.

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked. "We do stuff together a lot."

"I know," he said. "But like..." He mumbled some really long explanation that I couldn't hear.

"What?" I said.

He looked down said something else.

"I'm sorry, what?" Okay, I was starting to feel stupid.

Jason looked me in the eyes. "Piper, I want to ask you out on a date."

I stared at him, trying to comprehend what he had just said. "I, um, me? On a date? But you like Drew and you guys broke up and don't you need time? I mean, I really don't want to rush you or-"

Jason chuckled took my hand. "You're not rushing me, Pipes. I'm the one who's choosing to ask you out. So, meet me at my house tomorrow? At around 10:00? Then, I'm going to take you somewhere and surprise you. Wear something you'd feel comfortable in walking around for a long time."

I nodded. "Okay. Yeah. I'd love that."

Wow. Jason Grace. ACTUALLY ASKED ME OUT. Like, formally and stuff. And this time, Drew wasn't going to ruin my day. YES! This was, like, a dream come true. I knew today would be just as great of a day as yesterday had been.

...

"You're not the only one who has a date now," I told Annabeth on the phone after Jason walked me home from our bus stop.

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "Who is it? Tell me now. SPIT IT OUT!"

"Well," I said, building up suspense.

"DON'T YOU TOY WITH ME!" Annabeth shouted. "Tell me! I can't handle this suspense! Please, Piper, this is killing me."

"Okay fine," I said. "It's Jason!"

Annabeth squealed into the phone, which is something she doesn't normally do, so you could tell she was extremely excited. "Oh my gods! Oh my gods! Finally!" She paused. "Wait, Jason Grace, right?"

"Of course!" I said. "What other Jason do we know?"

"Oh my gods, Piper." Annabeth took a deep breath. Then she started squealing again. "How did it happen? HOW DID IT HAPPEN?"

"We were on the bus," I explained. "And he asked me if he could sit with me and I said yes. Then he started mumbling a bunch of stuff about wanting to take me out or something. I asked him what he said and he told me he wanted to take me out on a date! He told me to come to his house at around ten."

"This is so... OUT OF CONTROL!" Annabeth screamed into the phone.

"Ow." I pressed my index finger to my ear. "Watch the ear."

"Sorry," Annabeth said, lowering her voice. "My stepmom just complained about me shouting anyway." Then, it sounded like she turned away to talk to someone else. "Bobby, go play with your legos. No I won't zip your fly, you can do that yourself. What? Being too lazy is not an excuse, mister." Annabeth's voice turned back to me. "Sorry about that. So, I totally need to go to your house to plan both of our days with our dates. And redo our nails because my nails are chipped and I'm pretty sure yours are too. Also, my date is at eleven and since yours is at ten, I can go to your house tomorrow, too, at around nine."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, silently high-fiving myself. "Now get your butt over here, Annabeth. We've got a lot to plan out."

Annabeth was at my house in five minutes. After our phone call, knowing her, she probably just dropped everything she was doing, grabbed her bag, and ran over here as fast as she could. Five minutes was a record.

My crazy, but awesome best friend threw her bag on the ground and flopped onto my bed with me. "First things first. We need it get you a new outfit!"

"Okay," I said. "He told me I should wear something comfortable I'm walking around in, so let's go to my closet and-"

Annabeth shushed me before I got the chance to keep talking. "No, no, Piper. We're going to the mall! Duh. It's our first date with our real crushes, not those random nerds who asked us out on a study date to use as an excuse to actually take us out and tell the whole school the next day."

I nodded. I supposed she was right.

"So?" Annabeth got up. "What are you waiting for? I called up Calypso and Hazel and they're meeting us there."

"What about Rachel?" I asked.

"Rachel's probably not going to make it anyway," Annabeth said. "What's the point of calling her?"

"Um," I said. "Is there still some kind of tension between you guys?"

"No, no," Annabeth denied. Rachel used to like Percy and they had a huge argument about it a few years ago. They even made Calypso and I choose a side, but obviously, we didn't. Of course, eventually apologized, but I'm pretty sure the hole between them hasn't been fully stitched yet. Rachel claimed she didn't like Percy anymore and has decided to stay single. Annabeth was still not that sure of it. I wondered how Annabeth would react if she found out Calypso liked Percy back in middle school. Or maybe she still does. Even though I'm Annabeth's best friend, I'm not going to tell her, for the sake of her friendship with Calypso.

"Right," I said, knowing better. "Well, let's get going then."

...

"I just can't believe you got a date with your dream guy, Piper!" Calypso said outside of my dressing room. I was trying on some ripped faded jean shorts with rhinestones.

"Um, hello?" Annabeth said, in a joking voice from the dressing room right next to me. "I got a date with my dream guy too. You know, Percy."

"Yeah." Calypso's voice saddened in a way that no one could notice but the people who knew what was going on. "You and Percy make a really cute couple. I'm happy for you."

"He's not my boyfriend yet," Annabeth reminded her.

I zipped up the shorts and stepped out of the dressing room. "Does this look good on me?"

"Yes!" Hazel said, enthusiastically. "It shows off your legs." She giggled uncontrollably.

"Oooh!" Annabeth squealed (like a Drew minion) from her room. "I wanna see!" She stepped out and squealed again. "That makes you look really good, Pipes. Now we need to find you a shirt and accessories."

"What about you, Annabeth?" Hazel asked.

Annabeth gestured to the blue shirt with a palm tree on it that was hanging on her arm. "This is the shirt I chose. I'm going to go by a pair of shorts or something later."

After walking around and trying to look for a good store, we found one. The store was more crowded than normal, full of people from our school looking for something to wear at the homecoming game.

"Oh my gods!" Calypso shouted. "I found a really cute shirt for you, Piper!" She held up a white loose tank with Mickey Mouse on it in a size small.

"Yeah," I said. "That's really cute. I think it'll fit."

"Plus it's on sale!" Hazel added.

I walked into a dressing room and took off my shirt. As I was pulling on the Mickey shirt, I heard very familiar voices in the dressing room that was next to me.

"I know, right?" the girl next to the room said. "I can't believe the nerve of that girl!" I knew this voice. This was a voice from my school. I hit the record button on my phone.

"Ugh," another girl said. "She went to the beach with Jason yesterday. That's like soooo against the girl code. Doesn't she know that if a girl breaks up with a boy, another girl isn't supposed to date him?"

I froze. This was Drew and a minion.

"Well, technically, they're not dating," the minion said. "But if they were, they'd actually make a pretty cute couple. Maybe even cuter than you and him."

I heard a whack and an, "OW! What was that for?"

"That was for being stupid," Drew said. "I will get Piper back. Nobody knows that I'm the one who broke up with Jason, and now I'm starting to regret it. That little Dumpster Girl cannot have Jason, so I'll just have to keep convincing people that she's hypnotizing him." I heard a little shuffle. "She thinks she's won, but she hasn't. Did you post the picture of them at the beach, yet?"

"No," the minion said in a small voice. "I will, I promise."

Another whack and "ow".

"You better do it soon," Drew hissed. I heard them open the door and exit the dressing room.

"Why did you two go in the same room?" a voice that most likely belonged to a worker said. I climbed on a chair and peeked over my dressing room to see what was going on. I helped my phone up so it could catch the action.

"I, um, uh," Drew stammered.

"She's um," the minion said. I recognized her as Paris from school. "She had horrid fashion taste, and um, she needed me to make sure her outfits look as great as mine do."

"Erm," the worker said. "Okay." She walked away.

Drew whacked Paris again

"Ow!" Paris squeaked, rubbing her arm where she had been hit. "What was that for?"'

"For being stupid," Drew growled. She considered something for a bit, and whacked her again.

"Ow!" Paris rubbed her arm and glared at Drew. "_Now_ what was that for?"

"For the next time you're stupid," Drew informed her. "So I don't have to waste my energy and whack you then." Drew left, but Paris stayed, mumbling to herself.

I stopped the recording, took off the tank, and put on my own shirt. Then, I slowly creaked open the dressing room door and stepped out.

"Paris," I greeted her.

Paris's eyes widened. "Oh, Piper! You were... You were there the whole time? Did you happen to hear anything we said?"

"Um," I said. "Well, yeah. I heard a little bit. You know, from the part you said that you can't believe my nerve."

"Oh gods, Piper." Paris looked down at her very shiny designer shoes. "I'm so sorry. It's just Drew... Drew could be so mean sometimes and at first I thought being friends with her would raise my standards in the popular world. You know, because I just moved here last year. I mean, yes, my strategy worked." She took a breath. "I'm really popular now, and a lot of people like me and Drew, but since a lot of other people don't like Drew, those people don't like me either. And Drew is really mean to me. I'm torn. Should I just keep being friends with her? And even if I told everyone she's mean, no one would believe me."

"Yeah they would," I told her.

She looked back up at me. "How? Why?"

I held up my phone. "I recorded everything."

"What?" she said in disbelief. "How did you know to record it?"

"Well," I said. "I know to record her whenever I sense drama, so that I could show everyone what a mean person she is. And since she spies on me, why not spy on her?"

"You knew we were going shopping today?" Paris asked.

"What?" I scrunched my eyebrows up. "No, of course not. I'm a spy, not a stalker."

Annabeth's door opened and she walked out with a pair of shorts. She immediately stopped and glared when she saw Paris. Her eyes narrowed. "You're talking to a Drewey."

"An _ex_-Drewey," I corrected.

"Excuse me?" Annabeth said. "An _ex_-Drewey?"

"She's going to stop being a Drewey," I declared. "You'll tell Drew at school where everyone can hear you."

"At school?" Paris repeated. "When?"

"When I get enough videos to prove what a horrible person Drew is," I said.

"Paris, get your butt back out here, idiot!" Drew's voice screamed.

"Wish you could've gotten that on recording," Annabeth said. She turned to Paris. "Fine. I approve of you. For now. One wrong step and you're going to have to face me, missy."

Paris nodded. "Well, um, right now I have to face Drew, so if you'll excuse me..." She started to walk away.

"Wait," I called.

She stopped and turned around.

"You're not posting that picture of me at the beach on instagram," I told her. I held up my phone. "This whole recording thing is a favor from me to you. If you post that picture, this favor is going in the trash."

"Got it," Paris said.

Annabeth watched as Paris walked away. "Well. At least we have a Drewey on our side, now."

"Right," I said. "Now, let's go finish this shopping trip."


	15. The Big Surprise

**As of April 20, 2015: TOMORROW IS MY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY! *party poppers and horns full the room* YES! So, I'll try to update tomorrow, but if not, sorry! LOVE YOU ALL! **

**The sequel to this book will be a Percabeth one. Anyone have any song suggestions for them? If so, I'll make the story match the song with a few twists of my own like this one :) THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! READ AND REVIEW! ~Jackie**

* * *

**The Big Surprise**

Annabeth gave me a big grin and squealed right when she walked through the front doors the next morning. "Today's the big day, Piper! We, the nobodies of our high school, are actually going on a date! With popular guys!" When she realized what she had just said, she straightened her face up again and lifted her chin. "I mean that we're just testing how popular and sporty guys can take girls out on a date."

I scoffed as we walked up the stairs to my room. "Oh, please, Annabeth. Don't even pretend! You're really excited about your date today, and you know it." I turned and looked her directly in the eye. "You know, sometimes, you don't have to be so strong and stuff."

Annabeth opened the door to my room. "Right. Like I, Annabeth Chase, am going to be a squealing, giggling, idiot."

"You've done that before, A," I told her.

"Shut up," Annabeth said. "I know that." She looked me up and down. "You better not be wearing that to you date, Pipes. We didn't go shopping yesterday for no reason."

"Hmm?" I said, digging through my closet. I gestured to the sweatpants and tank top I had worn to sleep the previous night and was still wearing right now. "Oh this? This is just what I wore to sleep last night. I'm trying to find the outfit that I bought yesterday."

Annabeth got off the bed and started helping me look through my endless room clothing. "You're trying to find it? Don't tell me you lost it."

"Lost it?" I said, innocently. "I don't think so. More like misplaced it."

Annabeth sighed and looked over at the clock in my room. "It's 9:46, we'd better hurry." Then she paused and pointed to the pile of clean laundry that I hadn't put in my closet yet. "Is it over there?"

"Oh, right," I said, feeling stupid. Last night I had put my new outfit in the washing machine and dryer. When it was done drying, I brought it up to my room along with the other clothes that were washed with it.

After putting on my clothes, I stepped out of my closet. "How do I look?" I strutted up and down an imaginary runway and did a little spin.

"You look awesome!" Annabeth said. She looked at my hair. "I see you have already done your hair?"

"I wouldn't necessarily say I actually did my hair," I said. "I just braided it in random places like I always do. And this hairstyle has never managed to fail me."

"Whatever." Annabeth smiled. "So are you just going to wear your usual pair of gray Converse?"

"You know me so well," I said, putting on a pair of tiny diamond studs. "What time is it now?"

Annabeth looked over to my clock again. "9:51. You should start to go downstairs and put on your shoes."

"One sec," I told her, slipping on my bracelet. "Okay, done. Let's go!"

"Go where?"

Annabeth and I turned to see Lacy, sleepily rubbing her eyes and yawning at my doorway.

"She's going out with Jason," Annabeth informed her.

"I saw this coming when I first met Jason," Lacy said. "Finally."

"Come on, Lacy, let's scoot down the stairs," I said, nudging her.

We all went down stairs and I grabbed my bag that I had packed last night with my mom. Apparently, Jason had told my mom where we were going so she could help me pack. I had stuff in there like a water bottle and cameras and stuff.

"I'm going to Jason's now!" I shouted to no parent in particular.

"Okay, hun!" Dad screamed back.

"Tristan!" I heard my mom's voice call. "I was about to say that!"

"Haha!" Dad said. "Too late!"

Annabeth sighed. "Your parents are just so cute even though they're, like, forty."

Lacy and I both gagged in disgust.

"Well," Annabeth said, pushing me towards the door. "This is it!" She pretended to wipe away a tear. "My baby's growing up!"

I laughed and hugged her. "So is mine. Already going on a date-ish with Percy Jackson." Then, I opened the door. "Bye, Annabeth. Bye Lacy!"

"Bye!" Lacy said.

"Bye!" Annabeth waved. "Be good!"

I walked all the way to the gate and pressed my finger to the button.

Piper McLean, the screen said to me. Daughter of Tristan and Aphrodite McLean. You may leave. Be safe and have fun!

I rolled my eyes at the last part. Dad had installed that just because.

Walking to Jason's didn't take very long because, as everyone knows, he's my neighbor. When I got to the welcome mat, I checked my phone to see what time it was. 9:58... I looked around at the trees and stuff to pass time. I checked again. 9:59. I went on my Instagram and Facebook... And 10:00! Yes!

I nervously put my hand up to the door and knocked, a bit hesitantly. I waited for about five seconds before I could hear feet coming down the stairs and someone unlocking the front door. The door opened to Jason in dark jeans, a t-shirt, a drawstring bag on his back, and sunglasses tucked on the neck of his shirt. He smiled that smile that makes my knees fail me. That happens, like, everyday.

"Hey," he said, taking my hand and pulling me inside. "You're right on time. Did your mom help you pack your bag? Did she spill the beans?"

"Yes," I said. "And no. She was so excited last night and she was talking about how much fun we were going to have at this mysterious place and how I've been waiting for..." I trailed off, not wanting to tell him how long I had been waiting for him to ask me out.

"You've been waiting for what?" Jason asked, His electric blue eyes were locked with mine, and I actually almost answered his question. I looked away.

"I've been waiting for..." I thought for a moment. "For today! You know, ever since you asked me out yesterday, I just couldn't wait! It's not like I've been waiting for fifty-two thousand years or anything for you to ask me out." Smooth, Piper. That was so, so smooth.

Jason looked at me weird. "Are you okay, Pipes?"

"Yeah," I said, collecting myself. "I'm fine."

"Right," he said, still not so sure by the look on his face. He straightened up. "Okay, so here's how it's going to work. We live about forty-five minutes away from the place I'm taking you. So, we should leave around now. We'll get there around eleven, we can do stuff that will remain nameless, and then eat lunch at two-ish. After that we'll do other nameless things until about eight-thirty. Then, we'll drive home and eat a really late but big dinner."

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

Jason walked me to his garage and put both of our bags in the trunk of his car. Then, he walked around to the passenger seat of the car and opened the door for me. I smiled, thanked him, and plopped onto the seat. Sigh. Jason was so sweet.

"Are you excited?" Jason asked, as he drove out of his pathway. His pathway wasn't as fancy or big as mine, but it was still pretty similar. He had gates, too, but he didn't have the little security machine.

"I'm slightly scared," I admitted. "I don't know where you're taking me. And I can't be very excited, yet. Because I don't know where you're taking me."

Jason nodded, glancing at me for a second. "You'll like it. I know you will. You're even dressed properly."

"What?" I looked at my outfit. "Shorts, a tank, and Converse. "What would that be proper for exactly?"

"Haha," Jason said. "You're trying to trick me into telling you where we're going. Nice try, McLean. I'm not going to say another word about it. And in order for me to not accidently let you know, I am going to stop talking to you. I told your mom to pack you a book. Did she do that?"

"Um, yes?" I answered.

"Good," he said. "Read that to keep you from twisting words to make me tell you what you want to know. You have a thing with that."

I groaned and took out my book. After about twenty-five minutes of reading, I took out my phone and started to scroll through my instagram feed. My heart stopped when I came a picture posted by Drew. It was a picture of Jason and I at the beach, standing in the waves less than an inch away from each other.

I opened my messages app and frantically texted Paris.

_Paris! Drew posted a picture of me and Jason at the beach. I'M PANICKING._

She texted back in less than a minute.

_I know, I know. I'm so sorry! I honestly have no idea how she got her hands on that picture. I deleted it from my camera roll, and unless one of her other friends has it, she has no access to it!_

_Ugh. Do you know what the caption was? It was "she stole him". Can you believe that? I never stole anyone from her! Or anything really! Except for her gold colored pencil in second grade, but that doesn't count! She was always the one who stole things from me._

_It's ok, Piper. I've got more clips of her being mean to me and some of her clones. Er, I mean friends. Nah, I mean clones. I talked to them and they agreed to be on our side. But I'm not going to even to try to talk to some of them or they'll snitch._

_Lol good job. Now gtg I'm going somewhere with Jason._

_Omg tell me all about it pleaasseee. I won't tell Drew._

_Kk, bye._

I groaned inwardly. I just couldn't believe Drew could make up so many fake stories about me but post real photos to go along with them.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked. Oops. I didn't realize I had groaned out loud.

"Drew posted a picture of us at the beach the other day," I told him.

"Of us?" he repeated. "So? She's advertising our awesomeness."

"No, not really," I said. "Her caption was 'she stole him" with a crying emoji."

Jason's face scrunched her. "That's not right."

"I know," I said, simply, not wanting to rant on and on about how I never stole Jason, how she was the one to break up with Drew, and how Jason asked me out, not the other way around.

"I'm going to have to talk to her about that," Jason said, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Thanks, Jason," I said.

"Anything for you," he said.

I blushed.

My phone started to ring its ringtone when someone calls. I checked the caller ID and it said Leo Valdez. I picked up and greeted him.

"What do you want, Valdez?" I got straight to the point.

"Whoa, whoa," his voice blasted into my ear. I winced and turned down the volume. He continued talking. "Do I really need to want something to talk to my best bud?"

"Leo," I said, knowing him better. "Cut to the chase."

"Fine, fine." I could tell he was grinning his usual goofy grin. "You know me very well, Beauty Queen. I need a favor from you. Can you do my homework for me?"

"Yeah, right," Jason said, listening the whole conversation. "Piper is busy at the moment with other important things."

"Oh, really?" Leo was most likely wiggling his eyebrows. "Hey, Beauty Queen. You never told me you were with Superman." Superman is Leo's nickname for Jason because apparently Jason is always trying to save people from their problems.

"Yes," I said, kind of flustered. "I'm with Jason. So what?"

"So," Leo said. "What are ya'll up to?"

"I'm taking her somewhere," Jason told him.

"Oh, Piper!" Leo said. "You never told me that my boy here is taking you on a little date!"

"Shut up, Leo," I said.

"Awh," Leo gushed. "You guys are way more cute than him and Drew."

"Leo!" I scolded, hoping Jason didn't hear. By his smile, I could tell he did. "That's not nice."

"What?" Leo said, innocently. "But seriously, way cuter. And hey... You guys never told me that you went to the beach and had a blast without me! Come to think of it, you two don't tell me much."

"Well I'm sorry you were busy fixing something with your dad," I said.

"Oh yeah, that," Leo said. "That was fun. Heh. But hold on a second. are you guys in a relationship and keeping it a secret from me?"

"No!" I said. "He's just taking me out on a date. You need to have fun on the date and all that before you become an actual couple. Don't you know that?"

Leo scoffed. "No, of course not. I'm not a love expert like you are. I've never even been on a date, let alone have a girlfriend."

"That's true," I said.

"Haha!" Jason shouted. "Loser!"

I turned to Jason. "I've never had a boyfriend, either."

"But you've been on a date," he pointed out. "Wait, you have been on a date before, right? Or else this situation here would be really awkward."

"Haha!" Leo shouted, eavesdropping. "Who's the awkward loser now, Superman? You are! Superman's a loser!"

Jason jabbed a thumb towards my phone, still keeping his eyes on the road. "Can you, like, hang up with that dude now? He's driving me nuts."

"That's Leo Valdez for you, alright," Leo said, happily.

"Bye, Leo Valdez," I said.

"No, no!" Leo protested. "Please don't hang up, please-" I hung up.

Jason laughed. "I love that guy."

"I love him, too," I agreed.

"But not as much as me, right?" Jason said.

Holy Hades. I was really caught off guard on that one.

"W-what?" I stammered. "I, um, er. We haven't, well-"

Jason laughed again. "You're so cute."

I started turning crazy red. I think. "I am?"

"Well, yeah," Jason said. "You're eyes are really pretty. And you don't try hard to look good. You don't need mountains of lipstick and tons of mascara to feel good about yourself. And your hair is just, wow... And your personality makes me always makes me happy and stuff like that. I always thought you were really pretty, Piper."

I tucked a lock of hair behind my ears and worked up the courage to ask the question I've always wanted to ask. "Then how come you date Drew?"

Jason turned the wheel and took an exit. "I, um, it's complicated." He looked panicky. "We're almost there, Pipes." He took a piece of cloth out of his pocket. "It's a blindfold. Put it on. I want to surprise you."

"Okay." I gave him a half smile, slightly disappointed that he didn't tell me about the Drew thing. I put on the blindfold and waited silently for around five minutes. "Are we there yet?"

"Um," Jason said. "Kind of. We're here, but I'm trying to find a place to park. It's really difficult and you wouldn't understand unless you know what I'm doing and where I'm taking you."

I snorted. "Okay, then." After about five minutes, I got a phone call. I handed the phone to Jason and asked him to tap accept.

"Ahhhh!" Annabeth's voice blasted in my ear like Leo's had. "Where are you? What are you doing? Details. Now."

"I currently have a blindfold on," I said, truthfully. I heard Jason stifle a laugh.

"Um," Annabeth said. "What?"

"A blindfold," I repeated. "It's on me."

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "I got that. But, why?"

"Jason still wants to keep it a surprise. He had me put it on when he took the exit to wherever we're going. Now he's looking for somewhere to park and he still wants it to be a surprise."

"Awh," Annabeth said. "That is so cute."

"Yeah," I said. "What's up with you and Percy?"

"Oh," Annabeth said. "So, I went to his house early because he told me too. Apparently, it takes two whole hours to get to SeaWorld. I've been on the car for an hour, so I decided to call you to see what's up!"

I heard a voice in the background say, "'Sup, Piper?"

"Hey, Annabeth," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Hand the phone to Percy," I ordered.

"Why?" Annabeth asked.

"Just do it," I said.

"Nike," Annabeth replied before she handed over the phone. I snorted.

"Yes?" Percy said.

"Listen up, Jackson," I said.

"Okay, okay, feisty pants," Percy said. I heard a snort from Annabeth. That meant she could still hear me.

"Turn the volume down," I demanded.

There was a pause.

"Done," Percy said. "Now, what?"

"You be good to my best friend," I hissed, to make extra sure that Annabeth couldn't hear me. "Hurt her, and you deal with me and the rest of our little squad."

"You got it, mother," Percy said.

"Don't you sass me, Jackson," I said.

"Haha," Percy said. "Fine. Can I hang up now?"

"Feel free," I told him. I heard a click and the line went dead.

"You're so cute when you act like that," Jason said.

My stomach fluttered. "Thanks."

"Okay," Jason said. "I have parked! Don't take off your blindfold yet. I'm going to slowly walk you to the entrance, okay?"

"Okay," I said.

He opened the door and took my hand. He led me around the car and nudged me forward. After about five minutes of walking, he yanked off my blindfold. We were standing right in front of a big sign that read, "Disneyland."

I squealed and threw my arms around him. "Disneyland!"


	16. So Far, So Good

**YES! I finally got the chance to update! Haven't done so in over a week :( but GOOD NEWS! This chapter is 3,692 words long and it's all JASPER JASPER JASPER! Not even a hint of Drew and Jason! **

**Have I mentioned I love you guys? **

**Well, I do! **

**REVIEW PLEASE **

**~Jackie**

Chapter 16

So Far, So Good

"Now do you know why I said you were dressed properly for the occasion?" Jason asked, after going through the ticket booth and into Main Street, USA of Disneyland.

I nodded, taking in my surroundings. The smell of food from restaurants wafted up my nose. Little kids dressed as Cinderella and characters from Frozen ran around giggling. Teens in Mickey Mouse ears took selfies and rushed to all the different kinds of rides.

"This must've costed you a lot," I said.

"I wouldn't say a lot." Jason shrugged.

"Our tickets alone were probably two hundred dollars together!" I pointed out.

"More like one ninety-eight," Jason corrected, modestly.

"And you said you were also buying lunch and dinner!" I said. How could this get any more expensive?"

Jason shrugged again. "It was no biggie. Where do you want to go?" He took out the map and we both leaned in to examine it. Because we were in Main Street, the closest place was Adventureland to our left. Next to Adventureland was Frontierland and New Orleans Squads. To our right was Tomorrowland and all the way on the other side of Disneyland was Fantasyland.

"We should go to Tomorrowland first," I suggested.

Jason smiled. "Okay. It's whatever you want." He wove his hand into mine and we walked forward.

"I love Disneyland," I said. "I used to come here a lot when I was younger. I remember my dad always promised to come with me and my cousins, but he always had something come up. So, mom always took us, but she sometimes had things come up too. Then it went to my dad's assistant, Jane. She's so annoying. She was my babysitter whenever mom and dad had to go do a movie."

"Huh," Jason said. "Isn't Jane that really annoying strawberry-blond freak who likes to boss you around? The one thinks she's so great just because she's your dad's assistant? The one who takes advantage of her power over you when your parents are out of town?"

"Yep," I said. "That was a pretty accurate explanation of her."

"Yeah," Jason said. "I saw her when the whole neighborhood went to my house for Thanksgiving. Was your dad out of town then? Is that why Jane took you and Lacy?"

"Mmmhmm." I nodded. "She's annoying as-"

"Watch your language," Jason interrupted.

"What?" I said. "I was just going to say 'fudge.'"

"Oh, please," Jason said. "We all know what word you were going to say, Pipes. You don't have to hide it."

"Shut up, Sparky," I told him.

"Sparky?" he said.

"Yes, _Sparky,_" I imitated him. "Remember how when you were little you were always attracted to electrical stuff like outlets and chargers?"

"Um, yes," he said, carefully. I knew that he knew what I was thinking. He was really embarrassed about this story, but I decided to bring it up anyway.

"Remember that time when-" I began.

"I don't remember that," Jason cut me off.

"You don't even know what I'm about to say," I said.

Jason groaned. "Keep talking."

"When you ate that gummy bear," I joked, pretending that I wasn't going to bring up the story.

Jason breathed out in relief. "Yes, I do remember that."

I surprised him by bringing up the story. "And that time when you almost ate that charger when we were four and your dad caught you and started yelling at you about the dangers of that and we got it on recording."

Jason groaned again.

I smirked. "You thought you were home free."

"Yup," he admitted. "I thought you wouldn't remember."

"Too bad," I said.

We walked for another minute when Jason pulled out the map and looked around to see where we were. "We're next to the Silhouette Studio place thingy which is right here on the map." He pointed to a little icon on the map. "That means we're about halfway to Tomorrowland."

"Wow," I said. "It looks so close on the map, but when you actually try to walk there, it's way too much work."

"Right?" Jason said. "They should make bigger naps so we know more about the distance." Wait, that sounded weird.

"Did you say naps?" I asked.

"Um, no?" Jason said.

"Oh," I said, embarrassed. "It must've been too loud, then."

Jason laughed. "It's fine."

When we walked past Plaza Inn, a family came up to us and asked for directions to Frontierland.

"Excuse me," the lady who looked like the mom said. "We're trying to find Frontierland. Can you help us?"

"Sure," I said. I pointed in the way Frontierland was. "You just go straight, and it should be somewhere to your right."

A little girl looked at us with wondrous eyes. "Are you Pocahontas and John Smith?"

Jason and I stared each other and laughed.

"Cecelia," the dad scolded, his eyes widening. "That's not polite!" He turned to us. "Excuse our daughter, she didn't mean to offend you."

A little boy standing next to the girl, Cecelia spoke up. "But, daddy, they do look like Pocahontas and John Smith. Pocahontas even has the feather in her hair."

"Can we take a picture with them?" Cecelia begged.

"Please, please!" Cecelia's brother begged.

"Um," the dad said. "But they're not-"

"Why isn't Pocahontas in her outfit?" Cecelia asked.

"Cecelia!" her mom said in disbelief.

"No," I said. "It's fine." I looked down at the little girl and smiled. "I decided to change because I got bored of dressing in animal skin."

The parents looked at me in surprise.

Cecelia's face brightened. "I told you she was Pocahontas!" She took a closer look at me. "Why did you cut your hair?"

"Oh," I said, thinking if a reason. "My hair was cut by a sword when someone was trying to fight me."

The little boy ran over to Jason and jumped up and down. "What's it like to use a real gun, John Smith?"

"Um," Jason said. "Fun?"

"Is it heavy?" the boy asked.

"No," Jason said. "It's nothing John Smith can't handle."

"Mommy." Cecelia tugged on her mother's shirt. "Can we please, please take a picture with them?"

The mom looked at us. "Can they?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Yay!" Cecelia squealed.

The boy plugged his ears. "Cici, you don't have to scream so loud."

"I wasn't screaming, Adam," Cici said. She looked up at me. "Can I sit on your lap, Pocahontas?"

"Sure." I sat down on the closest bench and boosted her up onto my lap.

Jason sat next to me and the boy, Adam, sat next to Jason. The parents took out their camera and snapped a few pictures. When they were done, Cecelia squeezed me.

"It was nice meeting you, Pocahontas!" she cried. "I'm going to tell all my friends in Louisiana!"

"Yeah!" Adam agreed. "I'm going to tell all my friends about John Smith and his gun!"

The dad chuckled and picked up both children. "Come on, now. Let's go to Frontierland, now."

Adam and Cecelia giggled as their dad carried them off. They waved and shouted as they left.

Their mom looked back at us and mouthed, "Thank you."

We smiled and kept walking.

"Well," Jason said! looking at his watch. "That was kind of a delay. It's already 11:34."

"They were kind of cute, though," I said. "Besides, we're almost there." I pointed to our location in the map. "Look, we're not so far away from the Astro Orbiter ride." I looked up and squinted into the distance. "I can already see it."

"Do you want to go on that ride?" Jason asked.

"I want to go on every ride that doesn't look boring," I told him. "Astro Orbiter looks pretty fun, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "It goes in the air. I like being in the air."

I snorted. "That didn't sound childish at all."

Jason laughed as we entered the pretty short line for the Astro Orbiter ride. "It's true."

Right at that moment, my phone rang. I sighed and reached into my back pocket to pull it out and check the caller ID. It was Paris.

"Wow," Jason said. "Aren't you popular today?"

"Shush," I told him, tapping the accept button. "Hello?"

"Piper!" Paris's voice sounded panicky. "There's an emergency!"

"What?" I said. "Are you okay?"

"No, no," Paris said, her voice slightly calming down. "I'm fine, but it's not that kind of emergency. It's a Drew emergency."

I gasped dramatically. "That's almost as bad!"

"What?" Jason said. "What's almost as bad?"

I covered the microphone and turned to Jason. "I'll tell you later."

"Drew knows you're with Jason," Paris warned.

"She knows I'm with Jason?" I repeated. Jason and I shuffled forward as the line moved.

"Who knows you're with me?" Jason butted in.

I put my finger to my lips, signaling him to be quiet.

"Yeah," Paris said. "One of her friends saw you driving to his house, so she called Drew, and Drew said to wait outside the house across the street. When she saw you two getting into a car and driving somewhere, she told Drew again and was instructed to follow you. She knows you guys are at Disneyland, but she can't get tickets. Drew told me to go help her, so I'm driving there right now. Of course, I'm going to help her get tickets and get in, but I'll make sure we don't run into you at all costs."

"Whoa," I said. "What is up with Drew and all of her little stalkers?"

"I know," Paris said. "Drew is horrible. I'm so disappointed that I hadn't figured that out sooner. I know this is, like, the moment you've been waiting for with Jason. I've always been trying to ruin your relationship with him, and I feel really bad. So, I'm going to make this right. This'll be your big, perfect day, Piper."

"Thanks," I said. "It means a lot."

"Yep," Paris said. "Now, I'm almost there, so bye! I'll text you."

"Okay," I said. "Bye." I slid my phone back into my pocket.

"What was that about?" Jason asked. The line moved slightly forward.

"Nothing," I said, not wanting to ruin the mood.

"Who was that?" Jason reached for the phone in my back pocket.

I slapped his hand playfully. "No touching in that area."

Jason smiled. "Sorry. Who was that?"

"Paris," I replied.

Jason's face immediately wrinkled. "Drew's friend?"

"Kind of," I said.

"Um, okay," Jason said. "What does she want with you?"

"She's my friend," I said. "She doesn't really like Drew. But you can't tell that to anyone."

"So what did she want?" Jason said again.

"Nothing," I told him.

"Tell me," Jason said. "Or else I'll reach into your butt pocket again."

"It's a back pocket," I said. "No one calls it a butt pocket."

"I'm saying butt pocket to emphasize that I will reach there if you don't tell me what that phone call was about," Jason said.

"Did you just threaten me?" I joked. We walked forward.

"Yes," Jason replied. "Tell me, please." He reached for my phone again.

"Don't worry," I said, taking his hand and holding it to distract him from the situation. "It's going to be taken care of. You have nothing to worry about."

Jason's face lit up. He squeezed my hand. "Okay, Pipes." He looked down at me and kissed my forehead.

He kissed my forehead...

Did he actually kiss my forehead?

He kissed me!

Okay, it wasn't the lips or anything.

Close enough.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked, his forehead wrinkling in concern.

"What?" I said, snapping out of my odd session of freaking out inside my head. "I'm fine. Why would you think I'm not?"

"You were bouncing," Jason noted.

"Was I?" I said. "I guess I was just happy."

"Happy that I kissed you?" Jason said.

"Huh?" I was totally caught off guard. "What? I, um-"

Jason pulled me into a hug. "You're just so cute."

I smiled and hugged him back.

"Hey, you!" The stranger behind us pointed. "The line's moving."

I pulled away from Jason. "Oh, um, sorry." We moved forward and the park workers opened the gate to let us in.

The Astro Orbiter was a ride that looked like you were going in space. There was a really tall column-like thing was surrounded by fake planets rockets. The rockets were the part where you sit in, and I didn't know anything else about it.

Jason grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the closest rocket. He opened the rocket door and gestured for me to enter. After I smirked and got in, Jason climbed in behind me and held my waist. We buckled up.

Jason put his chin on my shoulder. "Are you scared?"

The announcer dude started talking through the microphone about the safety of the ride and how we should put our arms and feet inside the ride at all times.

"What?" I scoffed. "Pfft, no. This ride is for chumps."

"Right," Jason said. "So, not afraid of heights or anything?"

"Of course not," I said, trying not to remember the incident.

"Mmm," Jason said. "Not like that time on the camping trip?"

Okay, so there was a time that kind of scarred me for life. It was in the spring break of eighth grade when the Valdez family went camping with the Graces and my family. We were hiking up this really tall mountain thing when I slipped on a rock and almost fell off a ledge. The ledge was really high above a lake, so I screamed really loudly. It was really scary. I think I would've fallen off if it wasn't for Jason. He saw me, grabbed me, and pulled me really close to him. It was really awkward and I never wanted to mention that again, because he was dating Drew at the time.

"Shut up," I said.

"Are you going to scream this time?" Jason asked.

"No." I turned around and punched his arm.

"Hey!" Jason rubbed his arm. "I'm kidding." He hugged me tighter. "It's okay. If you do scream, I'll be here to save you again."

"No thanks, Superman," I said. "I'm good."

"Thanks for coming," the announcer guy said. "Enjoy your ride."

I squeezed Jason's hand as the rockets started rising up. They went up, up, up for a few seconds. Then, slowly, we started spinning. The wind blew my hair back probably into Jason's face, but I don't think he minded. It felt really nice being up in the air. I whooped with delight.

Jason leaned closer to me. "Now are you scared?"

"Um, no?" I said. "Does it sound like I'm scared? I'd be screaming if I was scared."

Jason groaned. "I'm going to take you on a scarier ride later."

"Haha," I said. "Good luck with that."

When the ride was over, we got our bags and started walking out of the Astro Orbiter section.

"Where do you want to go?" Jason asked, pulling out the map.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It was already 12:22. "How about Star Tours?"

"Sounds fun," Jason said. "Ever been on it?"

"Yeah," I said. "When I was little. It's one of those things that are motion-stimulated and you have to put on 3-D glasses so it seems like you're there, but you're not."

"When you were little?" Jason said.

I nodded. "When I started to grow up, I got more interested in the actual rides because I began to get tall enough to get in."

Jason nodded and held my hand as we kept walking.

My phone rang again.

Jason rolled his eyes as I pulled my phone out again and picked up.

"Paris?" I said.

"Where are you?" Paris asked. "Because we just entered the park, and Gwen wants to go to Tomorrowland to check for you guys first because it's one of the closest places. Drew told us not to go on any rides, because that would waste our time. But, of course, we're not crazy, so we're going on rides, anyway."

"I'm at Tomorrowland!" I said. "Convince her to go to Adventureland or something first!"

"Okay," Paris said. "I can do that. Gwen is pretty easy to convince."

"Thanks," I said. "Bye!"

"Bye," Paris said. "Have fun!"

I hung up.

"Why have you been getting so many phone calls today?" Jason asked. "I mean, I understand why Annabeth's been calling you, but why Paris?"

"Paris is helping me with something," I said, truthfully.

"Well," Jason said. "Okay."

We got to the building where Star Tours was. There was a really long line, so we got a FastPass, and from there, well, it was pretty fast.

The ride was really dark and had random drops and stuff, but it wasn't very scary. Jason hoped I would be scared for some reason, but I wasn't. I'm guessing it's because he wanted to put his arm around me or do some other romantic gesture.

"Let's go on Space Mountain," Jason suggested after we exited the Star Tours building. It was only 12:48, which meant about an hour until we had to go search for somewhere to eat lunch.

"Space Mountain," I said, thinking. "I think I've been on that ride before, but I don't exactly remember it." All I knew was that it was kind of dark, but it had really colorful and pretty lights.

"Good," Jason said. "I remember it because I went here last year with my cousins from New York."

"New York?" I said. "Annabeth and Rachel lived in New York before they came to California."

"Really?" Jason said. "So did Percy. He went to this weird academy for 'troubled kids' as they called them. I think he got kicked out of that school too. Luckily, his stepfather ot a promotion to become principal here at Goode, so they moved here. I think Percy's doing a good job not getting kicked out of this school and all."

"Annabeth was homeschooled by her mom," I told him. "I think she was just born smart or something. When her mom died in a lab explosion, she and her dad moved here. Since her dad is too busy to homeschool her, he sent her here."

"You know what I've noticed?" Jason said.

"What?" I said.

"A lot of people at this school have family issues," Jason said.

"How so?" I said.

"Like, parent issues," Jason explained. "For me, my mom overdosed on drugs and now she's dead, so I live with my dad. Percy's parents divorced, so now he lives with his mom and Paul, which isn't bad. Leo's mom died in a fire, so he just lives with his dad like me. Frank's mom died at war. As you said, Annabeth's mom died in an explosion, so she lives with her dad, right?"

"And her stepmother and two younger stepbrothers," I said.

"See what I mean?" Jason said. "Parent issues."

"Yeah," I said. "And Hazel lives with her dad and Nico and Bianca because all of their moms died. Calypso's parents divorced and now she lives with her mom."

"More parent issues," Jason said.

"I don't have parent issues," I pointed out.

"You don't have issues in general," Jason said. "You're perfect."

Was it just me, or did the heat just increase a little?

I looked down, shyly. "No one's perfect."

"Are you no one?" Jason said, squeezing my hand. "Because you're perfecto."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Everyone is not perfect."

"You're not everyone," Jason said putting his arm around me.

I smiled as we kept walking towards Space Mountain.

Space Mountain was definitely hiding surprises up its sleeve. Or it's tunnel. (Haha, see what I did there?) At first, the ride was pretty slow and I thought Jason was totally tripping if he thought this ride was scary. But then, really suddenly, it started to super fast. I got so surprised that I let out a really loud yelp.

I guess Jason thought that was his chance to do the corny because he whispered, "I hear screaming now." Then, he put his arms around me and kissed my forehead again. Now, normally, I would think that's a really stupid move, but when Jason did it, it was perfect.

After that ride, we decided to look for somewhere to eat lunch. It was 1:31, but we wanted to have more time in other places besides Tomorrowland. Jason and I went over to a bench at sat down to look at the map on Jason's phone.

"So tell me again why we have to look for somewhere to eat on this tiny screen instead of this large map?" I said.

"So we can actually click on the place and see the info," Jason said, reasonably.

"Ah," I said. "Wise."

Jason scanned the map. "How about the Blue Bayou Restaurant?"

I clicked on the little fork and knife icon. It brought me to the restaurant's page. Then, I tapped on the menu and began to read it. All of the lunch dishes had meat, except one.

"Okay," I said. "There's a vegetarian meal so I'm all in for it. Plus, it's near Adventureland, which is the place I want to go to next."

"Great," Jason said. "Let's be on our way then."

We spent about fifteen minutes speed walking when we finally got there. I ordered the Portobello Mushroom and Couscous Macque Choux. It was a vegetarian meal with a choice of a side of salad, gumbo, or shrimp. I took the salad because I knew gumbo had meat, and of course, shrimp is meat. Jason ordered this thing called Pan-seared Salmon with a side or gumbo.

The food there was really good, and Jason payed for it all. I told him not to, but he insisted because according to him, "that's what proper gentlemen do on dates."

After our lunch, it was 1:58, so we went to the Tiki Juice bar, which was only a few minutes away, to get juice.

Now, it was time to start the next part of our date. So far, so good.


	17. A Slight Delay

**Aha! 4,306 words this time! Longest chapter yet! Am I awesome, or what? **

**Again, please PM me suggestions for song titles for my Percabeth sequel. I repeat: JUST SONG TITLE SUGGESTIONS. No plot suggestions, or anything. It's not that I think your plots aren't good, but I want a chance to figure out the plot first. PLEASE GIVE TITLE SUGGESTIONS I WOULD LOVE IT! **

**The sequel will have the same characters, same school, same everything. Just in Annabeth's POV about Percabeth.**

**Lastly, I love you all! Please review!**

Chapter 17

A Slight Delay

"Too bad Lacy couldn't be here," Jason said, as we walked off to the Jungle Cruise. He had on a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, the one that he bought at a stand near the Tiki Juice Bar. He also bought a Minnie Mouse one for me, so I also had that on.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Lacy would've loved it here. But at least she's having her birthday tomorrow, and that would be fun." I thought for a moment. My eyes widened. Lacy's birthday was tomorrow. Oh fudge.

"What?" Jason looked at me. "What's wrong?"

"Lacy's birthday party is tomorrow," I said. "Annabeth and I already ordered the sandwiches yesterday after school, chose the cake, and order the desserts. Today, I was supposed to stay home to buy materials for the cookies, bake them with Annabeth and Lacy, and buy decorations as well as decorate the house, but Annabeth and I are both busy! I was also supposed to go shopping for a dress and shoes for her. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to pick up the cake, sandwiches, desserts, and and make strawberry smoothies! And I can't do all that before the party tomorrow."

"Hey, hey, hey," Jason said. "Relax." He widened his arms. "I mean, you don't have a Superman for no reason. I can help. Here's the plan. When we get home today at around nine, we can go to Cub and buy cookie making materials. I mean, Cub is always open. Then tomorrow... Wait, what time does the party start again?"

"Twelve," I replied.

Jason winced. "Okay, we are in a bit more of a rush then I thought we'd be in, but that's fine. I'll be at your house at nine-fifteen. I'll bring Percy to help, and I'm sure Annabeth will be there. I'll drop you off at the mall so you can shop for Lacy's outfit. While you shop, I'll go pick up the desserts and sandwiches. Meanwhile, Annabeth and Lacy can bake the cookies at home while Percy goes out to buy decorations and decorate with the instructions from the girls. When you and I get home, we can make the strawberry smoothies."

I sighed in relief. "That's great."

"Aren't you going to thank your Superman?" Jason asked, as we approached the entrance to the Jungle Cruise.

I hugged him. "Thanks, Sparky." My phone rang in the middle of our hug, and Jason groaned and pulled away.

I took it out from my back pocket and held it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Piper!" said a frantic Paris. "I see you! I told you we were in Adventureland! We're a little ahead of you in the line for Jungle Cruise. You guys are the one's with the Mickey and Minnie ears, right? Oh, super cute by the way."

"Erm, yeah," I said, searching for Paris. There she was, three families in front of us, using crazy hand gestures while speaking to me on the phone. Gwen was right next to her, with earbuds in, not aware of what was going on around her. "That's us. Can you guys get out of the line or something?" And, thanks."

"No," Paris said. "Gwen is not changing her mind on this one. Put on a disguise or something!"

"One moment," I said. I dug through my bag and pulled out my glasses, still using one hand to hold my phone. I had brought them along just in case my contacts fell out. I quickly shoved them at Jason and made him put them on. He went cross-eyed.

"You're still there, right?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "Keep those on for now."

"Why?" Jason asked.

"Do it," I said. "We're under attack."

"Um," Jason said. "Excuse me?"

"Someone is spying on us," I said. "We have to be in disguise."

"You do realize I have my own glasses right?" Jason asked.

"You what?" I said.

"Yeah," Jasons said. "I just never really use them. I can see fine without them. But I need them to read things far away."

"I'm not going to say anything about the fact you never told me about this because I'm kind of in a rush here," I said, truthfully. "But I'm kind of offended. Anyway, what are you waiting for? Put them on!"

Jason handed me my glasses and took his out. They looked similar to mine, just not as big and chunky. He put them on and... Whoa. He looked like a different person. He still looked good, but...like...different.

I snapped out of my little daze and put the sunglasses that were resting in my hair on. Then, I turned back to the phone. "Good enough?"

"Oh my gods," Paris said. "Jason Grace has glasses? Does Drew even know? He doesn't even look the same."

"I know, right?" I said. "But that's kind of the point. Jason's not supposed to look like himself. Think Gwen will fall for it?"

"Definitely," Paris assured me. "She's kind of an airhead."

"Hey," Jason leaned close to the phone. "I heard my name. You're talking about me!"

I pushed him away. "Hush, Jason."

Jason hugged me from behind. "But I wanna know!"

I rolled my eyes. "You're so immature."

"No, not immature," Paris said. "Cute! You guys are too cute. Welp. Bye! Have fun, lovebirds!"

I saw Gwen take out an earbud and say something to Paris as the line moved forward.

"I'm talking to, uh, my cousin," I heard Paris tell Gwen right before she hung up with me.

Gwen shrugged.

Jason tapped on my shoulder.

"Hmm?" I turned around and looked at him. Whoa. It'd probably be awhile until I got used to him with his glasses on. He still looked cute, though. I mean, how could he not?

"Can you please tell me?" He made a puppy face.

"Haha," I said. "No can do. It'll make you paranoid. I can tell you tomorrow or something."

Jason sighed. "Fine. But I will not forget."

It didn't take a long time because the line was way shorter than the lines for all the other rides, so we got there pretty quickly. Jason and I were the last ones to enter on that round, so there was only two spots left: the ones right next to Paris and Gwen. Paris' eyes widened and she gritted her teeth, trying to distract Gwen.

"Oh, look," Jason said. "There's you and Drew's friend, Paris. Oh, and there's also Drew's friend Gwen. Let's go sit next to them!"

"Jason," I hissed, as we came aboard. "Whatever you do, don't say anything to Paris and Gwen."

"What?" Jason said. "I thought Paris was your friend."

"She is," I said. "And she knows I'm here. Gwen knows we're here, too, but we can't let her see us."

"Why not?" That was when realization hit him hard. "Oh, right. You'll tell me later. I knew that."

I nodded and sat down next to Paris with Jason next to me.

"Hey," Gwen said to Jason. I shook nervously. Had our cover been blown? Did she recognize us?

"Uh, yes?" Jason lowered his voice.

"Do I know you?" Gwen pointed to both of us. "You guys look kind of familiar. Have I seen you before?"

"Er, no, ma'am." Jason switched to a British accent. I snorted. "Me and my friend hee-ah ah from Great Britain. We came hee-ah on a business trip."

"Then why are you at Disneyland?" Gwen asked.

"Gwen," Paris said. "Why are you into other people's business?"

"Because," Gwen whispered loudly. "That girl looks like Piper McLean. You know, Piper? The girl that Drew hates? Remember, Paris?"

"Shut up," Paris said. "Leave the travelers alone."

Gwen ignored her. "So, girl who looks like this girl Piper from school, why are you at Disneyland?"

"I, um," I stammered. "We came hee-ah to stu-ee American attractions. And how, um, American teens re-ahct to gi-ahnt Mickey Mouses."

"Why does your British accent suck?" Gwen asked.

"Leave them alone," Paris repeated.

Luckily, the announcer dude started to talk.

"Saved by the bell," I whispered.

"Excuse me?" Gwen said.

"Hmm?" I said. "Oh, er, nothing. Pip pip cheerio and all that."

"Right," Gwen said. "Whatever."

The Jungle Cruise was really fun. Gwen was super distracted by all the squeals coming out of her mouth whenever she was splashed. Paris was yelling pretty loudly, too, and Jason and I were whooping all over the place. The water was refreshingly cold, especially because it was a hot, sticky day out.

After Jungle Cruise, I texted Paris to convince Gwen to go off to Tomorrow to look for Jason and I, so we could go to Frontierland. As Paris said, most of the time, Gwen is really easy to convince, so, off they went.

As for us, we wiped out almost all of Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country. Well, at least the stuff that was interesting. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean (it was scary-ish, surprise, surprise!), the Haunted Mansion (actually not that scary. They tried, like, waaay too hard to impress), Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes (super fun. I loved the feeling of both the wind and water in my hair. Percy would approve), Splash Mountain (What. A. RUSH! It went down, and around, and super-duper fast. Also, Water= Percy would also approve), and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, just to revisit our childhood.

By that time, it was already 4:41! Time flew by so, so quickly. I could tell Jason was also having a lot of fun. He smiled a lot. It was so cute and made my knees give. Also, it gave me butterflies. Ugh. I hate the butterflies in my stomach feeling.

Annabeth called right after the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and greeted me with a high-pitched squeal. "Oh. My. Gods. Piper, fill me in. Like, right now."

"It's been so much fun so far!" I said. "But, hold on." I covered the microphone and turned to Jason. "I'm going to quick go to the bathroom, okay?"

Jason nodded. "Okay. Hurry, we have a lot to do!"

I rushed to the bathroom, locked myself in a stall, and uncovered the speaker. "Okay, I'm in the bathroom. You were saying?"

"How is it?" Annabeth asked, in an overly excited voice.

"It's really good," I said. "He kissed me on the forehead a couple of times. But Gwen is here to spy on me. Paris is also here, trying to drive her away. Actually, Paris just texted me and said they were going to Tomorrowland, and we're heading to Frontierland, so we'll be just fine. I accidently ran into them once, and Gwen was all suspicious of us. We had a disguise on, and- wait! Jason had glasses. He actually has glasses, can you believe that? So, I guess Gwen fell for it, especially because we went all British accent, and you know Gwen always falls for British accents. We went on a lot of rides, and he payed for almost everything! I feel so guilty, but it's a good kind of guilty!"

"Whoa there," Annabeth said. "Lots of stuff to take in. So he kissed you on the forehead? Oh, gods. That is so cute! Percy hasn't made much of a move on me yet. I'm also in a bathroom. But you two, you two are just so cute! I've been having a lot of fun, and Percy is really nice. He's a really nice guy, but this date doesn't feel like a date. It just feels like I'm hanging out with him as a friend, you know? And he's sort of awkward."

"Ah." I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see me. "There's the awkward Percy we all know. Don't worry, he'll warm up to you. Eventually. I mean, this is just your _first _date. You'll have tons of other ones where he'll definitely make some kind of move on you. And being with Jason is like being with a friend, too. I mean, sure, he does super cute stuff, but it's just like being with a close friend, because I've known him since we were kids."

"Eh," Annabeth said. "Can you believe I used to think Percy was annoying?"

When Annabeth moved here in seventh grade, she thought Percy was the dumbest, annoying kid on the planet. He was really clumsy and always asked Annabeth for help. Then, she got stuck doing a group project with him and was okay with him in eighth grade. They actually sort of became friends that year, but I don't think they ever got the chance to really talk. That's probably why Percy waited until this year to ask her out. This year, they actually had more classes together.

"That was funny," I said. "You'd always criticized everything he did."

"So how long until you guys are leaving?" Annabeth asked.

"We're leaving at around eight," I said. "Then, we're buying cookie baking materials. We forgot to bake cookies with Lacy today, so yeah. You and Lacy are going to bake them at home while I shop for a dress and shoes, Jason gets the food, Percy buys the decorations, and decorates. Then, when Jason and I get home, we'll make the smoothies."

"Oh, that's right," Annabeth said. "Lacy's birthday party! I almost forgot." There was a pause. "Wait, Percy is coming?"

"Yeah," I said. "Jason said he would come."

"Does Percy even know he's coming?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, no," I admitted. "You can tell him though, right?"

Annabeth groaned. "Fine. I'll sleepover at your house tonight then?"

"Okay," I said. "I won't be home until, like, ten. Keep Lacy company, will you?"

"Okay," Annabeth said. "I'm leaving Seaworld at around five-thirty since it's a long ride home. I'll ask Percy to drop me off at your house."

"Okay," I said. "Have fun!"

"Buh-bye!" Annabeth said, before she hung up.

I slid my phone back into my pocket and unlocked the bathroom door. When I opened it, I saw someone unexpected standing there, waiting for her turn to go to the restroom. Drew Tanaka. I quickly shut and locked the door again, not knowing what to do.

Drew? What in Hades was Drew doing here?

That was when I got a text from Paris.

Omg. Drew is here Drew is here! ALERT ALERT!

YES! I KNOW THAT! OMG. I was in a bathroom stall and when I opened the door, Drew was waiting in line! I was so surprised, so I just slammed the door shut and pretended I wasn't done with my business. WHY IS SHE HERE?!

Well, she texted me to ask if Gwen and I had found you yet, and we said we hadn't. Then, she decided we were taking too long, apparently. She didn't tell me she was coming until she had already entered the park! She said she was going to the bathroom before looking for you guys in Frontierland! Then, I realized that you were in Frontierland, and I texted you as quickly as possible. Only, I had no idea you guys were in the same bathroom! I'm gonna text her to go to Adventureland.

Agh, what do I do?!

Um, she's no dumbie, so sunglasses might not fool her. Are you wearing your braids?

Duh. When do I not?

Take them out, and put our hair in a ponytail. You almost never wear ponytails. And do you happen to have a hat?

Ok. And yes, snapback

Wear it, and look down at your shoes as you walk past her. Good luck! *crosses fingers*

K. Let's hope this works. Brb

I undid my random braids and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. Then, I put on my snapback and kept the sunglasses. I opened the door casually, and walked out to wash my hands. I could feel Drew's eyes staring at my back.

She was still in the line, right next to the exit. I took a deep breath and hoped for the best. This was it.

I slowly started to walk towards the outside world of Disneyland. I almost made it, but Drew stopped me, right before I stepped out.

Her eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?"

"Pardon me?" I said, in a British accent to keep my cover.

"Do I know you?" she repeated.

"Unless you know a, um, a Kaya, then no," I said.

"Your name is Kaya?" Drew said, suspiciously.

"Yes," I lied.

"And you're from England?" Drew said, probably still not believing it.

"That is correct," I said.

"Why are you-" Drew began.

"Why are you asking so many questions?" I asked. "Are you a stalker or something? Oh my gods. You are a stalker! Back off, or I'll call the bobbies." Bobbies was a word I learned in a World Cultures class in seventh grade. It was what British people sometimes call police. They also say bloody instead of some swear words.

"The bobbies?" Drew said.

"Yes, the bobbies," I said. Lacy's friend, Sadie also uses that word. She moved here to California from England a year ago. She's older than Lacy by about three years, which makes her a sixth grader. "You know, as you Americans call it, 'police.'"

"Okay," Drew said, slowly. "But-"

"I said back off!" I suddenly raised my voice to make my acting believable. "Back off before I call the bloody bobbies!"

"Okay, okay." Drew put her hands up in surrender.

I harrumphed and walked back to Jason.

"I knew girls take long in the bathroom," Jason said when I got to him. "But I didn't take know they take that long! What happened?" We started to continue walking to Frontierland.

"Oh," I said. "I talked to Annabeth on the phone."

"Um." Jason scratched his head. "In the bathroom?"

"Um, yes," I said. What was wrong with that?

"Girls are weird," Jason noted.

"Glad you noticed," I said.

Jason pulled out the map on his phone again. "Frontierland looks pretty small."

I nodded in agreement. "I think the only thing that looks interesting here is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad."

Jason looked up from his phone and stared into the distance. "I can see it from here. It's that giant mountain over there." He looked back down at his phone. "We're right next to River Belle Terrace right now. We're almost there. Then, after Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we can spend the rest of our time in Fantasyland and see all the princesses!" The way he said "princesses" made him sound like an excited little girl. He also added a little jump.

"Whoa, there," I said. "You okay there?"

He straightened himself. "I'm fine."

"You sound like an excited girl on her birthday receiving a fluffy unicorn for a present from her parents," I told him.

"I'm fine, really," he said, a little desperately.

"Looks like you're a secret princess lover, huh?" I teased.

"Nooooo," Jason said in a whiny voice. "I just like the movies their in. And the songs they sing. I mean, Do You Want to Build a Snowman? And Part of Your World? And A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES? They're so good..."

I stopped at stared at him. "Even Lacy doesn't get this crazy with Disney."

Jason gestured me to keep walking. "I like Disney, okay? And I like Fantasyland and all that."

I smiled. "You're cute."

Jason smiled back. "Glad you noticed."

I peered at him. "Are you mocking me?"

"No." There was a humorous glint in his eye.

I pulled his arm. "Jason!"

"You're cute," Jason said.

"You're mocking me again!" I complained.

Jason squeezed my hand. "Mocking is a sign of flattery."

I snorted.

We continued to walk.

"Do you want something to drink?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," I said. "How'd you know?"

"Because I want something to drink," Jason said.

I shoved him.

He got out a bottle of Snapple juice and thrusted it out to me. "Quench your thirst."

"Really?" I said in a sarcastic voice, taking the bottle from him.

"Yes," he said. "You're thirsty."

"Mhmm," I agreed, drinking the juice.

Jason snorted.

"Oh wait," I stopped drinking, finally comprehending what he had said. "Ew, you think wrong."

"What if I wasn't?" Jason asked, tilting his head to the side. "Then you'd be the one thinking wrong."

"We all know you were," I said.

"But if I wasn't," Jason repeated.

"But you were," I insisted.

"But if I wasn't," Jason said again.

"But you were," I whined.

"But if I wasn't," Jason said, calmly.

"I hate how you're so calm in this situation." I gave him the bottle. "Here's your disgusting juice. Enjoy."

"Thanks. I will." Jason took it from me and drank it. When he was done, he put it back into his bag and we got into the line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

I groaned and checked the time. It was 4:59 and the line for the ride was really long. Plus, the weather was starting to get super hot, even hotter than when we went on all those water rides. The kids in front of us in the line were running around making obnoxious noises. This. This was going to be such a long wait with these factors of UGH.

"Give me that ice cream!" the older boy who looked around ten shrieked. Eight, nine, and ten are the ages that boys get really annoying. I told Annabeth that once, and now she's afraid that her step brothers are going to grow up annoying.

"No!" the other boy said. He looked like he was eight. Both boys were running around and around their parents in endless circles, chasing each other for, well, ice cream.

"I'm older than you!" the ten year old yelled. "You have to do what I say! So do what I say! Give me the ice cream!"

"I don't have to do anything you say, old man!" the eight year old said. "This is my ice cream! Eat your own!"

"I already finished mine," the ten year old told him. "So I want yours! Plus mine tasted like shi-"

"Watch your language, Michael!" a man who I'm assuming was the dad scolded.

Jason and I exchanged glances.

"Sorry, dad," the ten year old, Michael, said dismissively, still chasing the other boy. He turned his attention to him. "NOW GIVE ME THAT DANG ICE CREAM, PETER!"

"Little boys these days," Jason said, sighing. "I can't believe they know these many swear words. Well, I knew them when I was ten, but I never used them."

I scoffed. "And you use them now?"

Jason looked down at his shoes. "Maybe."

I rolled my eyes as the line moved forward.

"Stop chasing me!" Peter said.

"Then give me your ice cream!" Michael said.

"Never!" Peter shouted. The line moved again.

Michael suddenly stopped running. "Hurry up, doofus! The line is moving forward!" He shoved Peter. Peter's ice cream flew right out of his hand and landed on his shoe.

Peter's lower lip started to tremble. His eyes starting getting wide and watery as he stared down at his left shoe in disbelief.

"Oh no, you don't," Michael hissed. "You will not cry. If you cry, mom and dad are gonna yell at me. Don't cry, loser."

With that, Peter bursted into tears. "Look what you've done!" He pointed furiously towards the melting lump of ice cream on his shoe. "Now I won't get any, let alone you!" He stomped his right foot, angrily.

People were starting to stare. Jason and I stepped away to tell everyone that we definitely did not know these kids.

"Michael!" the mom said. "Why would you do that? You know cookie dough is Peter's favorite ice cream!"

"Yeah," Michael said. "But mine tasted horrible, so I wanted some of Peter's. He was too stubborn." Michael stuck his tongue out at Peter, and Peter stopped crying to stuck his tongue back out at Michael.

"Boys," their dad said, sternly. "We are in public! No more treats for Michael for the rest of the trip. And Peter, you will clean up that mess!"

"But," Peter said, his lip trembling again. "But i-it was Michael! He was chasing me around!"

"Well you should've told us," their mom said. "Because you didn't tell us, both of you are in trouble. So, Peter, get to cleaning up that ice cream!"

The line moved forward as Peter cleaned the ice cream off his shoe while sobbing loudly.

"That was not at all a strange scenario," Jason said, sarcastically.

"Tell me about it," I said. "I can't imagine Bobby and Mathew ever doing this."

"Who and who?" Jason said.

I gave myself a facepalm, remembering that Jason didn't know Annabeth's step brothers. "Bobby and Mathew. They're Annabeth's twin step brothers. They're really little and cute."

After ten long minutes, we were finally there! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was actually pretty scary, in a super fun way. After the ride, we took a look at the pictures they took. Let's just say, I looked pretty freaky.

My eyes were widened and I had gritted teeth, although I was pretty sure I was screaming the whole time. My hair was flying back and my arms were up in the air. It looked like my emotions were a cross between scared and amazed.

Jason looked way better than I did. First of all, he didn't have long hair, so it didn't get in the way of anything. His blue eyes were gleaming with joy and his mouth wide open, probably yelling. His arms were also in the air, and he looked like he was having the best time of his life.

We laughed over and over at our picture. Jason payed for two keychains with the picture of us on it. It was pretty sweet.

Next stop: the most magical place in Disneyland; Fantasyland.

**REMEMBER: PLEASE PM ME SONG TITLE SUGGESTIONS FOR PERCABETH SEQUEL.**


	18. Fantasy-date

**So am I an awesome author or what? Okay, maybe not. I haven't updated in like two weeks, but it was all worth it for 6390 words! And seriously guys, 114 reviews, 41 favs, and 64 follows? My head is like about to burst! Thanks everyone! Love you and happy reading!**

**Chapter 18**

**Fantasy-date**

"I can see the castle from here!" Jason said happily as we were getting closer to Fantasyland. This was the place where most of the kids were. More tiny Cinderellas, Elsas, and Sleeping Beauties were crowding the sidewalks. Kids were squealing about how they were about to meet princesses and go into their castles.

"You're such a dork," I told Jason.

"Come on." He nudged me. "You know you're excited too."

I sighed. "Don't judge me," I inhaled deeply. Then, I let out a really high-pitched squeal and started hopping up and down. "I haven't been to Fantasyland in forever! Oh my gods, I can't wait to see all the castles and princesses and fairies!" Then, I straightened myself and turned my attention back to Jason. "You didn't see that."

Jason chuckled. "I told you that you're excited."

"Hold on." I pulled my phone out and texted Paris.

**_At fantasyland. Make sure Gwen and Drew don't go there._**

**_K! Have fun :)_**

"Done texting, yet?" Jason asked. "Because look." He pointed at the castle, which was only a few yards away now. "We're here."

I smiled. "Sleeping Beauty's castle is so pretty."

"Yep," Jason agreed. "Wanna take a selfie?"

I nodded, so he pulled out his phone. After the selfie with the castle in the background, Jason pointed to the entrance and held out his arm. "Shall we, m'lady?" He gave me a dazzling smile and my knees almost gave in.

Instead, I smiled back, confidently, and took his arm. "We shall."

The last time I visited Sleeping Beauty's castle was probably when I was eight, which would make it about seven years ago. Going again with Jason really brought back the memories of when I went with my little third grade friends for my birthday. It was like going back to a time where there was no drama. No Drew to take Jason away. Nobody to spread rumors. It was just me and my little buddies. This time, it was just me and my crush.

Sleeping Beauty's castle was beautiful. It was really dark, and there were some scenes from the movie. Also, there were story books that told you the story to go along with the scene. Disney really had a great presentation.

When we got out, there was a perky Sleeping Beauty princess standing next to the exit. She was wearing a pink dress and her blond hair was curled. Usually, Sleeping Beauties at Disney parks wore wigs, but you could tell this one didn't. She had a really sparkly gold crown sitting in her locks.

"Sleeping Beauty!" I cried, pointing at her. Okay, wow. That sounded really stupid. Did I actually just do that?

"Want to go take a picture?" Jason asked.

I smiled, sheepishly. "You know it."

Jason laughed and led me over there to stand in the pretty short line for pictures with Sleeping Beauty. Kids were sitting on her lap and giggling with her as she talked to them. When the kid in front of us got off her lap, we came over.

"Hi," she said with a smile. "Obviously, I can't put you on my lap."

I grinned. "Hi, Sleeping Beauty. I'm Piper McLean. You remind me of my childhood."

"I remind me of my childhood too," she said. Then, she looked up at Jason. "Hi, who are you? Are you guys on a date? Are you guys actually dating yet?"

Oh my gods. Did she really just say that? I was probably as red and hot as cooked tomato. No, scratch that, lava. I was probably as bright, red, and hot as lava.

"I'm Jason," Jason said. "And, yes, we're on a date. Erm, no, we're not dating." He gave me a sideways smile. "But soon, hopefully."

"Aw," Sleeping Beauty said. "That's cute. So, want a picture?"

"I was hoping you'd ask," I said. Jason got out the camera and took a picture of us.

"Hey, dude," Jason called to a teenage guy standing nearby. "Can you take a picture of us?"

The guy smirked and took the camera. "Aren't you guys a little too old to be posing with a princess? My little sister just did that."

"Shut up and take the picture," Jason said, putting his arms around my waist and standing behind me. The guy snapped a picture and walked away.

"Here," Sleeping Beauty said to me, taking off her crown. "I want you to have this."

I looked at her, confused. "Are you even allowed to do that?"

She shrugged. "Probably. But it's my first day on the job, so they probably won't fire me for messing up. Or I can just tell them some kid took my crown and ran off with it. But I want you to have this to remind you of your childhood. And of the date you're on with this guy." She turned to Jason. "You have one awesome girl. Don't mess up. Seriously."

Jason beamed and squeezed my hand. "Thanks. I chose her carefully." He took the crown from Sleeping Beauty, took off my mouse ears, and placed the crown on my head. "She's my princess."

I blushed.

Sleeping Beauty smiled and waved. "Okay, bye, guys! Have fun!"

As we walked away, I took out my phone and went to the camera.

"Selfie time," I said to Jason. He laughed and posed with me. On the last picture, he kissed my forehead. I swear, my head probably almost blew up.

"Send me those pictures," he told me as I put my phone away.

I nodded. "So where do you want to go next?" It was only 4:36, surprisingly. I thought it would've been later because of the little delay back at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which has a really long name.

Jason looked to our left. "The line for Snow White's Scary Adventures is usually really short because it goes pretty quickly. Plus it's the closest."

I snorted. "Or maybe you just want to go because you love Snow White? And princesses in general?"

"What?" Jason said. "It's healthy for someone to love princesses." He stopped at the entrance. "Let's ask someone to take out picture next to the entrance."

I shrugged. "Okay."

This time, we asked a parent to take the picture, instead of one of the other teenagers who were there. She took about three pictures, then we thanked her.

"I bet our pictures will turn out great," Jason said.

"Right," I said, as we entered the stone castle. Inside, it was kind of like Sleeping Beauty's castle, except it wasn't a walk through type of thing. It was a ride through. We hopped into one of the ride cars, and they took us to different scenes of Snow White. It was the sort of thing where you didn't see the scene in the movie, but you were in it.

When we came out, surprise, surprise! Snow White was standing next to a tree. She was most likely wearing a wig and the yellow and blue dress she wore for part of the movie.

We took pictures with her too, although she wasn't as cool as Sleeping Beauty. She was nice and all, and even had that really high, sweet voice.

"We should make a collage of our pictures later," I suggested, as we walked to Peter Pan's Flight.

"That would be awesome," Jason said. "But I don't think we'll have time today. You can come to my house after school on Monday, because Lacy's party is tomorrow. Or I can come to yours." He stopped to think. "Actually, you should come to mine, because Thalia is coming to visit from college."

"Oh, really?" I said. "Wow. I can't believe she's already been in college for like two months!"

"Almost three," Jason corrected.

"Wow," I said. "Is she still with Luke?"

"Luke Castellan?" Jason said.

"What other Luke do I know?" I asked.

Jason shrugged. "Yeah, she is. They're cute, aren't they?"

"Relationship goals," I agreed.

Jason looked at me like he wanted to say something. But he kept his mouth shut.

After taking a picture with the Peter Pan's Flight sign, we got into the line. The line was pretty short, so it took about eight minutes to get through it. I remember going to Peter Pan's Flight as a little kid. Peter Pan's Flight was actually my favorite ride. Even though the rush of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was great, and the scariness of the Pirates of The Caribbean was exciting, I liked Peter Pan's Flight. It was nice, and peaceful, and I remember every bit of it.

I was going with my cousins to Disneyland when I was six. Lacy was only 18 months old. I went with my favorite cousins Silena and Mitchell, who were nine and five back then. It was just us three on the boat, sailing past stars and over Neverland. It was really great.

Jason and I climbed into the little boat. It wasn't an actual boat. It was a boat connected to a bunch of wires and it made you look like you were on a flying boat.

"This was my favorite ride when I was six," I told Jason. "It still is."

"I've been on this ride a couple of times," Jason said. "I liked it."

"Whenever I come to Disneyland, I have to go on this ride," I said. "It's like a must have for me."

"Uh huh," Jason said, putting his arm around my shoulders. "It's also very romantic."

I snorted, slightly flattered. "How so?"

"Well, it's dark," he said. "And it's a smooth ride. Wow, I've been waiting for an opportunity like this one this whole time." He pulled me closer and I rested my head on his shoulder as the boat started to move forward.

First, we flew through Wendy and her brother's bedroom. Nana the dog was sitting on the ground, too. There was music from the movie in the background, and all of a sudden, Peter Pan's voice shouted, "You can fly!" That was when our flying boat went out Wendy's window and into the darkness of the "night". There were 3D stars everywhere and the boat started circling around a little island. That island was Neverland. There were different scenes from the movie, too. We saw the Mermaid Lagoon, the Indians, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, and Peter fighting Captain Hook. It was a pretty short ride, but worth it, if you ask me.

Jason rubbed his eyes when we got out of the boat and started walking to the ride exit. "Was that as good as you remember it?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm pretty sure that ride will always be good."

"Like you?" Jason completely got me by surprise.

"Erm," I stammered. "W-what?"

"You," Jason said again. "You were always cute, sweet, and funny. And you always will be."

My walking slowed down a bit. "So what you're saying is that I've been here all along, right?"

"Well, yeah," Jason said. "Kind of."

I decided to bring up the question again. "So why did you date Drew?"

Jason sighed. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

I couldn't believe I was hearing this. I couldn't believe that after all these years that we've been best friends, he still couldn't tell me one of the most important things in his life. Something that had been going on for two years now. And he still wouldn't tell me.

"It's fine," I said, walking faster again.

"No, really," Jason said, catching up to me. "I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"Really, Jason, it's fine," I said. "You don't have to tell me."

Jason nodded. "Okay." He cleared his throat and pulled out the map on his phone. "So where do you want to go next?"

I checked the time. 5:43. "Pinocchio's Daring Journey seems fun."

"Alright," Jason said. "It's not so far away. I can see it from here."

"Duh," I said. "Look at it on the map. It's only a short distance."

"Oh," Jason said. "Right. I knew that."

I heard my phone ring, so I pulled it out.

"I'm so bored," Annabeth complained. "It's a super long ride home and I have absolutely nothing to do."

From the background, I heard Percy say, "You can talk to me."

"Keep your eyes on the road," Annabeth scolded.

"Um, okay," I said. "So how was it?"

"Eh," Annabeth said. "It was okay."

"Are you talking about me?" I heard Percy ask.

"Pff, no," Annabeth said. "We were talking about the..."

"Sanitation of the restrooms," I blurted.

"Right," Annabeth said. "We were just talking about how sanitary the restrooms at Seaworld were."

"Why would Piper ask about the sanitation of the restrooms?" Percy asked, suspiciously.

"She's weird," Annabeth replied. "Now keep your eyes and ears on the road. No eavesdropping."

"It was okay?" I asked, after waiting for a few seconds. "Okay? It's not supposed to be okay. It's supposed to be great! Why wasn't it great? Did the stupid-head do something? Did he do something stupid? If he did something to you, I swear on the gods-"

"No," Annabeth interrupted. "It's what she didn't do."

I scrunched my eyebrows. "Did you just say she?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "So _she _doesn't know we're talking about her."

"You mean Percy, right?" I asked, quietly.

"Yes, I mean her," Annabeth said.

"What do you mean it's what 'she' didn't do?" I asked.

"She didn't do anything, you know, romantic," Annabeth whined.

"Who's she?" Percy's voice asked. "And why was she supposed to do something romantic?"

"This girl from my math team," Annabeth answered, quickly. "She's going on a date and she hasn't been doing anything romantic. Now stop eavesdropping, Seaweed Brain."

"He hasn't even put his arm around you?" I said. "Hugged you?"

"It felt like hanging out as friends," Annabeth said.

"It's okay, A," I said. "He'll get around, soon."

"I hope so," Annabeth said. "So how's your date going so far?"

"Pretty good," I said. "We're in Fantasyland right now."

"Ooh," Annabeth mused. "I love Fantasyland."

"That's what Jason said," I told Annabeth. "Yeah, so you're eating dinner when you come back, right?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "I'll probably be able to go keep Lacy company at eight-fifteen. Then you're coming home when you're done with Fantasyland, am I correct?"

"Yup," I said. "Which will probably be at around seven-thirty. We kind of need to be fast today because we also need to buy birthday stuff for Lacy. When we get to the grocery shop, it'll probably be about eight-thirty. Then, we'll eat dinner and be at my house at around ten."

"Alright," Annabeth said. "And you're dad told me that he's at shooting right now, and then he'll go out to an after-party and won't be back until midnight. You're mom is going to start her fashion show at eight, so she has to leave your house at seven-fifteen. Lacy is at her friend's house and I'm going to bring her home when I get back."

"Okay," I said. "Bye!"

"Bye." Annabeth hung up.

"Who was that?" Jason asked, as I put my phone away.

"Who do you think it was?" I asked.

"Annabeth," Jason said.

"You are correct, ma'm," I said.

"What?" Jason said. "Ma'm?"

I ignored him and walked faster. He caught up with me and put his hand on my shoulder. I stared at it.

"Are you mad or something?" he asked.

Of course I was mad, chicken butt.

"Guess," I said.

"Yes?" Jason said.

"No," I lied. "I'm fine." I didn't want to make a big deal.

"Pipes, something's up," Jason said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes." I put a big, fake smile on my face and pointed to the Pinocchio's Daring Journey sign. "Who's ready for Pinocchio's Daring Journey?"

Jason grinned. "You are, I'm hoping."

After asking an adult to take our picture, we went inside. The ride went through all the scenes of the movie from Geppetto's house, to Pleasure Island, to the ocean. You could also see characters like Pinocchio, Geppetto, and Jiminy Cricket. Cheerful music was playing in the background most of the time, but some parts had scary music, and the ending had the song "When You Wish Upon A Star". By the time we were out of the ride, it was 5:57.

We then decided to go back to toddler days and go on a carousel. King Aurthur Carousel, to be specific. Jason and I took selfies on our horses and asked someone to take a picture of us in front of the whole carousel afterwards.

At 6:13, we went to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The line for that wasn't so long. Basically, the ride was just riding a fake car through a place that looked like the English countryside. It was fun, but boring at the same time. It was fun being with Jason, but I drive way too much on a regular basis.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant was fun, too. We were in an elephant that looked like Dumbo. It was pretty slow, but fun because Jason was hugging me the whole time. I was really scared to drop my phone, so Jason took our selfie on his phone instead.

By the time we got to the line for Mad Tea Party, it was already 6:30. That meant we had an hour left. The line for Mad Tea Party was really long. It took us twenty minutes to get through it. The Mad Tea Party was really dizzying and it kind of made me want to upchuck. We sat inside of a white and gold teacup and once again took a selfie.

The last ride we went on was Matterhorn Bobsleds. The reason it was our last ride was because the line was even longer than the one for Mad Tea Party. This line took thirty minutes, and by the time we were off the ride, it was 7:34.

"Ready to head home?" Jason asked, opening the car door for me. It was now 7:43, because we basically ran to the exit from Matterhorn Bobsleds.

"Yup," I said, stuffing a Duffy the Disney Bear that Jason had bought near the exit into my backpack. Throughout this whole trip, Jason had bought me a lot of stuff. Food, the ride keychains, a Dumbo plush pillow, one other Duffy the a Disney Bear that was dressed like Jiminy Cricket, an Anna shoe ornament, and a pillow that said_ Fairest One of All_. My backpack was now really fat.

"Let's hit the road then, princess," Jason said, glancing at my Sleeping Beauty crown.

I smiled. "Let's do that."

When I got onto the car, I pulled my phone out and called Annabeth immediately.

"Hey!" Annabeth greeted me. "Where are you?"

"We just got into the car, so we might be a few minutes late arriving home. Unless Jason speeds. Which I advise him not to. But the question is, where are _you_?"

"Oh," Annabeth said. "We're way more than halfway there. We should be there in twenty-five minutes."

"Oh, good," I said. "Which friend's house is Lacy at?"

"Someone named Sadie Kane?" Annabeth said.

"Oh, I know her," I said. "I'm going to call her house phone and talk to Lacy about you coming. Bye!"

"Bye," Annabeth said, before I hung up.

I dialed Sadie's house phone and listened to it ring four times.

"Hello?" a male voice said.

"Hello?" I said. "Who is this?"

"This is Carter," the voice said. "Who's this?"

"I'm Piper, Lacy's older sister," I told him. "Are you Sadie's older brother or something? Because Lacy is at your house."

"Um, yeah," Carter said. "And Lacy is really cute by the way."

"Yeah," I said, cautiously. How old was this Carter? Why was he talking about my sister like that? "How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen." Oh. Okay then.

"Wait, do you go to Goode High?" I asked.

"Um, yep," Carter said. "Do you go to Stalker High?"

"Oh," I said, realizing how creepy I sounded. "Sorry. I go there and I don't think I've ever met a Carter Kane. But anyway, can I talk to Lacy?"

"Yeah, sure," Carter said. "Lacy! Your creepy older sister wants to talk to you!"

"Shut up," I growled. I was definitely not approving of this guy. I mean, Sadie was absolutely adorable, but this guy was acting _not_ absolutely adorable.

After a few seconds, I heard Lacy's voice say, "Hi, Piper!"

"Hey, Lacy," I said. "So, listen. In about thirty minutes, Annabeth is going to come pick you up from Sadie's, okay?"

"Okay!" Lacy squealed. "We're playing on the Wii!"

"Okay, that's cool," I said. "I'm going to come home at about ten. Will you be okay?"

"Yes," Lacy said. "I'll see you then!"

"Okay," I said. "Bye. Love you. Can you give the phone back to Carter, please?"

"I love you too!" Lacy said, happily. "And okay!"

"You seem like a nice sister," Carter said, with a gentle tone. More gentle then every sentence he had said before.

"Um, yeah, sure, whatever," I said, not sure what to say. "Can you just keep Lacy safe for thirty more minutes?"

"Fine," Carter said. in a teasing voice again. "Whatever you want, mother."

"Ugh." I was irritated. "Bye."

I hung up and dialed Paris.

"Hey!" Paris said. "Your date over already?"

"Yep," I said, sadly. "Just wanted to let you know that we left the park. You're free to go anywhere."

"So you were here," Paris said.

"Um, what?" I said. "Of course I was."

"This is Drew." The voice came out loud and clear, loud enough for Jason to hear.

My heart froze. "Um, what?"

"This is Drew," Paris who was not Paris repeated. "So you and Jason were here."

"Drew?" I repeated. "Why do you have Paris' phone?" Jason looked at me with questioning look. I shook my head as if to say, _I got this_.

"Paris and Gwen are on a ride right now and wanted me to hold their stuff," Drew informed me, snootily. "And don't change the topic. I repeat: you and Jason were here."

"Wait," I said. "You didn't go on the ride? What, are you scared?"

"I said not to drop the topic!" Drew screeched into my ear. "You and Jason were here?"

"Please don't tell Drew that I'm with you right now," Jason whispered. "She'll kill me. And you."

I turned to Jason and covered the microphone. "I wouldn't dream of it." Then, I uncovered the microphone and started talking to Drew again. "Me and Jason?" I said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on," Drew said. "I asked you if your date was over, and you said yes. I saw pictures of you two everywhere together. Everyone knows you've been drooling about him since forever, but he chose me, instead of you. Gwen saw you two driving to Disneyland. If you weren't on a date with him at Disney, where were you?"

"I wasn't on a date with Jason." I gritted my teeth. I couldn't believe she said that thing about drooling about Jason, and I knew that Jason could hear.

"Then where were you?" Drew's voice hardened.

"I was on a date, but not with Jason," I lied.

"Oh yeah?" Drew said. "Then who was it?"

"It was…" I searched my brain and said the first boy I thought of. Wow, was I stupid. "Carter."

"Carter?" Drew said. "Carter Kane? The slightly good looking and really smart guy?"

I didn't know about smart and good looking, but I knew his name was Carter Kane. "Sure. Him."

"Then what were you doing at Jason's?" Drew asked, still suspicious. "And why did he drive you to Disneyland?"

"I didn't have a ride to my date, so I asked my good friend, Jason," I said, quickly.

"And one last question," Drew said. "Why does Paris have you in her phone as 'Le Other Bestie' with a kissy emoji behind it?"

"I don't know about that one," I said, flattered that Paris thinks I'm one of her best friends. "Who's 'Le Bestie' then?"

"Gwen," Drew grumbled. "And Katie is 'Le Bestie #3'. But I'm just Drew. Ugh. I can't believe Paris would… Wait. Why am I telling you this, Dumpster Girl?" I heard a click and the line went dead.

After a minute of silence, Jason said, "That was a pretty sweet lie. But just one thing. Why did you say Carter Kane? Did you used to have a thing with him or something? Or do you still do?"

"What?" I said in disbelief. "No! It's just that I just got off the phone with him, because he's Lacy's friend's older brother and she's at their house. So his rudeness was still in my head when I called Drew who I though was Paris, so I said his name."

"Oh, I see." Jason nodded. "So is it true that you've been 'drooling about me since forever?'"

I shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." I took off my crown, stuffed it in my backpack, and leaned my head against the window. "Wake me up when we get to the grocery store."

…

"Wake up, sleepy head," Jason said, shaking me gently. We were in the car, and the groceries were already sitting in the backseats.

"Wah?" I said, rubbing my eyes. "How come the groceries are already here?"

"Well," Jason said. "I couldn't wake you up, so I carried you all the way into the store. Then, I put you in a cart and starting driving you around, while looking for baking materials. I found a folded up list of what you needed in the pocket of your shorts, so that's the list I used. Of course, people were staring at me weird, because normal teens don't usually have their sleeping dates in a grocery cart, but I didn't really care. Then, after paying for everything and getting questioned by the police, I just rolled the cart out to my car and put you in the seat and the groceries in the backseat."

"Okay, three things," I said, as Jason backed out of the parking space. "First of all, _you _probably don't care about people staring at the sleeping person in your cart, but I do. It's embarassing! Second of all, you got questioned by the police?!"

"Oh, yeah," Jason said. "They thought I was kidnapping you, because they're police, and they recognized Tristan McLean's daughter. After calling your dad and your dad saying it was fine, they let me go."

"Erm, okay," I said. "And third of all, you put your hand in my back pocket! You touched my butt!"

"What?" Jason turned red. "I wasn't even - it's just that - that's not even what I was thinking - I was just - I saw a paper sticking out of your pocket and I plucked it out!"

I smiled and hugged him. "It's fine, Jason. It's not that big of a deal. I just wanted to see your reaction."

"So does that mean I can actually?" Jason asked. "Are we at that point yet?"

I snorted. "Jason, you're such a perv."

Jason sighed. "It was worth a shot."

When we got to Jason's house, it was dark outside. It wasn't dark enough to see the stars, but it was still pretty dark.

"Where is your dad?" I asked, when Jason turned on the lights in the entrance hall.

"He's at my aunt's house, helping her out with something," Jason replied. "We have the house all to ourselves. But technically, we don't need the house. We're going to be outside."

"What?" I said, sitting down on a chair at his kitchen island. "I thought we were eating."

"You'll see," Jason said. "Close your eyes."

I closed my eyes. "How am I supposed to see if I close my eyes?"

"Plug your ears, too," Jason said, simply. I sighed and put my fingers against my ears.

After about five minutes of hearing and seeing nothing at all, I felt Jason tugging on my shirt. I opened my eyes and unplugged my ears.

"Okay," Jason said. "In a few seconds, I want you to close your eyes and plug your ears again. I just want to let you know that I am going to walk you somewhere else, so you're not alarmed."

I nodded, closed my eyes, and plugged my ears again. Then, I felt Jason gently help me off the chair. He led me down the stairs, which wasn't very safe, but we made it anyway. I didn't have a great sense of direction, but I knew we were walking to the sliding door that led to Jason's backyard. We paused for a moment (most likely so Jason could open the sliding door), then we kept walking. The ground beneath my shoes felt a bit harder than wood, so I could tell we were on the stone patio. After walking a few feet, the ground felt soft, which meant we were on the grass. I felt a tug on my shirt again, so I opened my eyes and unplugged my ears.

Jason had set out a big picnic blanket on the grass, a few yards away from the patio, and a few yards away from the lake behind our houses. Plates of vegan sandwiches and desserts were laying on the blanket, and the stars twinkled in the night sky.

"Wow," I said, taking everything in. "A picnic in the moonlight? Not bad, Sparky."

"Yeah," Jason said. "Leo helped me with the idea." He took my hand and sat me down on the blanket. He sat next to me. "Bon appetite."

After talking, laughing, and eating a few mini sandwiches, some cookies, and some ice cream, we sat on the hammock that was tied between two trees growing to the side of the patio.

"I'm so glad the stars are out today," Jason said. "Otherwise, we'd be looking at nothing."

"Yeah," I agreed, resting my head on his shoulder. "Definitely."

Jason put his arms around me and laid down, pulling me with him. I laughed and hugged him.

"This is really nice, isn't it?" I said, snuggling closer.

Jason smiled. "Yeah." Suddenly, his phone rang, which made both of us flinch.

"Well," I said, going back to my original position before the phone rang. "This is the first time your phone has rung all day, isn't it?"

"Yup," Jason said, grabbing his phone from his pocket. "Pretty much." He pressed the accept button. "'Sup, Leo?"

"Dude," came Leo's voice. "How are you and Piper?"

"We're laying on the hammock right now," Jason said.

"Oooh," Leo mused. "Are you making love?"

Jason's eyes widened. "What? No! Leo! We're just hugging."

"You're making loooove," Leo cooed.

"Shut up, Valdez!" Jason exclaimed. "Okay, if you excuse me, I gotta get back to my date, who is patiently waiting for you to be quiet. Isn't that right, Pipes?"

"Right," I said, slightly amused. "Bye, Leo."

"Aw, dang it," Leo said. "Alright, fine. Bye, love birds!"

Jason rolled his eyes and hung up on Leo. "Leo is so weird."

"Gotta love him," I said.

"Yeah," Jason said. "Gotta love him. But like, you love me more than him, right?"

I laughed and kissed Jason's cheek. "I love you guys in different ways. Like I love Leo as a brother, and I love you as... something else."

"So," Jason said, putting me on top of him. "What I'm hearing is, that Leo can't touch your butt pocket, but I can?"

I snorted and put my head on his chest. "Dream about it, Sparky."

"Again," Jason said, hugging me tighter. "Worth a shot."

...

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth screamed and ran down the stairs with Lacy when she heard me open the front door. "How was it? Tell me everything!"

"Yeah!" Lacy said, pulling me up to my room. "Tell me everything!"

I opened one of the double doors to my room, and sat down on my furry purple beanbag chair. Annabeth flopped on my bed, and Lacy did the same, right after turning off my lights, and turning on the Christmas lights that were hanging in my room all year long.

I handed Annabeth and Lacy my phone so they could look at pictures, while I explained everything.

"So, we took a lot of pictures," I said. "Mostly in Fantasyland, but we did take other pictures elsewhere. It was really romantic and awesome! We went on tons of rides and ate really good food. After Disney, Jason bought baking supplies. They're at his house right now, and he's going to bring them over tomorrow for Lacy's party. Then, we came back to his house and had a picnic under the moonlight!"

"That's so cute!" Annabeth said, still scrolling through the tons of selfies. "Did you guys snuggle and watch the stars?"

"Yeah," I said, blushing. "We laid on his hammock."

"You guys are utterly adorable." Annabeth gave my phone back and grabbed my camera to look at the pictures on there.

"Uh huh," Lacy agreed, looking at the camera Annabeth was holding.

"Jason bought me the whole place." I took the souvenirs out of my backpack and dumped them on my bed.

Lacy came over and put the Sleeping Beauty crown on her head. "This is cool. I've never seen this souvenir before."

I nodded. "That's because Sleeping Beauty took it from her head and gave it to me. It's magical. Just don't tell anyone she did that."

"Okay, Piper," Lacy said, putting the crown down and hugging Dumbo the jumbo pillow.

"He must be broke or something now," Annabeth said.

Lacy yawned and closed her eyes.

"Yeah," I said. "Hold on, I'm going to put Lacy in her room. It's late." I picked Lacy up and carried her into her room. I came back to see Annabeth digging through my souvenirs.

"Annabeth," I said, flopping onto the bed next to her. "I called Paris after Disneyland, when we were on the car. Drew picked up and started questioning me about why I was at Disneyland with Jason. I panicked and told her that I was actually on a date with Sadie's older brother, Carter, because I had just gotten off the phone with him, and that Jason was driving me there to meet Carter. What if she asks Carter about it?"

"Carter?" Annabeth bursted into laughter. "Carter Kane? He's my partner on the experiment we're doing in science class! He's actually kind of cute, but not as cute as Percy. You're in big trouble, because he's actually pretty popular, and if Drew thinks you're dating him, the whole school will."

"What?" I said, in disbelief. "Carter is popular? I didn't even know him, until he picked up the phone when I called Sadie's home phone."

"Hah," Annabeth said. "Good luck. You're going to have to tell him everything."

I groaned and got out my phone. "I'm going to call him and ask if he can come to Lacy's birthday tomorrow so I can tell him our little scheme."

After two rings, Carter picked up. "Hello? Who are you and why are you calling at, like, ten in the night?"

"It's me, Piper," I said, reluctantly.

"Oh, you," Carter said, dully. "I'm going to repeat myself. Why are you calling at, like, ten in the night?"

"I need you to come to Lacy's birthday party tomorrow with Sadie," I told him.

"What?" Carter said. "Um, why?"

"I'll tell you then," I said.

"Uh," Carter mumbled. "Okay. Bye." I heard a click as he hung up.

"So how'd it go?" Annabeth grinned.

"He's coming," I grumbled.

"Great!" Annabeth yawned. "I'm gonna go to bed now, okay?"

"Go ahead," I said, taking out my journal from my night table.

"Goodnight," Annabeth said, snuggling into the blankets of her sleeping bag. "Don't let the bedbugs bite."

I snorted at the last comment. "Are you sure you don't want to sleep in your guest bedroom?" Annabeth had her own room at my house. She preferred hanging in my room, though.

"Nah," Annabeth said, sleepily. "I'm too lazy to move."

"Okay," I said. "Goodnight." I began to write in my journal.

_October 21_

_The date with Jason was awesome!_

_So, it started off when I left the house to go to Jason's. He said that he was taking me on a surprise date. Well, it's more like I knew that we were going on a date, I just didn't know where we were going or what we were doing._

_When we were almost to the *ahem* location, Jason had me close my eyes so that I wouldn't see where we were. He led me to the entrance, and it turns out, we were at Disneyland! He bought my tickets and everything, too._

_Paris called near the beginning of our date and told us that Drew had sent a spy (Gwen) to watch us and try to find us. Gwen didn't have tickets in, so Drew sent Paris to go help. Paris mostly just kept Gwen away from us the whole time, except for this one time when we accidently ran into them and Jason and I had to use a British accent to throw Gwen off our tracks._

_We took a lot of pictures. Our favorite part of Disney was Fantasyland. A Sleeping Beauty gave me her crown. It was pretty awesome actually._

_On the ride home, I called Paris. Paris asked me if my date was over already, and I said yes. Then Paris said that it wasn't actually Paris talking, it was Drew. Drew started questioning me about everything, and so I may have blurted out that I was on a date with Carter Kane, Sadie Kane's brother. I'll have to tell Carter about that whole scenario tomorrow._

_So anyway, when we got home, Jason gave us a little surprise picnic under the moonlight. It was really romantic, because we cuddled on a hammock afterwards, looking up at the stars. SQUEE! Ew, did I actually just make that "squee" noise out loud? Okay, that was so not me._

_Well, anyway, here I am, writing in this journal, with Annabeth on the floor, sleeping. Speaking of sleeping, I have to sleep now. I have to wake up early tomorrow and host a birthday party for Lacy. Goodnight._

_-Piper McLean_


	19. Drama-Filled Birthday Party

**Sorry about the kind of long-ish wait :( Well at least I updated! It's 6168 words, so worth it! Except, it's kind of boring, but trust me, this chapter had plenty of useful information that you're going to need later on in the book. Notice Drew's choice of words (besides 'whatever') -Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**Drama-Filled Birthday Party**

Last night, I was at a movie premiere with my dad. The cameras were blindly flashing at me, and mom had dressed me up in a super revealing dress. It came down right passed my butt, and was strapless. It was horrifying. It was like a nightmare.

This morning, the internet was filled with pictures of me in that dress, next to my mom, dad, and Lacy. The whole school was buzzing about how I was Tristan McLean's daughter and...

"WAKE UP, PIPER!" Annabeth shook my shoulders violently.

My eyes fluttered open, and I saw Annabeth sitting on top of me, already dressed in a white top and a pink, lacy skirt.

"Wah?" I said, trying to adjust my eyes to the light.

"It's nine in the morning!" Annabeth said. "The boys are going to be here any minute!"

I sat up, quickly. "Oh my gods! It's Lacy's party today, isn't it?" I rushed to the bathroom and squeezed toothpaste onto my toothbrush. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Why didn't I wake you up earlier?!" Annabeth repeated. "Are you kidding me? I've been trying to get you up since eight-twenty!"

"Ugh," I mumbled, rushing to brush my teeth.

"I'm going to set out your outfit so we don't waste time," Annabeth called. "Lacy wants all of us to wear at least one thing that's pink."

"Maff dat won pink ting unnotishable," I said, trying to say _make that one pink thing unnoticeable_, but the toothpaste foam was making it really hard to speak.

"What's that you say?" Annabeth said. "Make that one pink thing _very _noticeable? Alright! If that's what you want!" I could tell she knew what I had really tried to say.

"No, no!" I said, frantically trying to motion Annabeth to not get a very noticeable pink thing."

I heard Annabeth digging through my closet. My closet was really, really big, so there's no way she would find that baby pink dress my mom bought me for her friend's daughter's sweet sixteen.

I closed the door and used the bathroom, having a happy, warm feeling. I own almost nothing pink, except for that dress. Well, there was that pink shirt, but there was no way Annabeth would find that either.

After washing my face and brushing my hair, I came out of my bathroom and saw Annabeth standing right in front of the door. She had an evil grin on her face and something hiding behind her back.

"So how about this?" Annabeth held up the dress. The baby pink dress. It was a high-low dress with a gold sparkly belt.

"H-how did you find that?" I asked, in disbelief.

"Wear it," Annabeth ordered. "It's a tea party. Lacy told me this morning. We're going to eat outside."

I sighed. "This is the last time you're going to see me in something this pink." I went into my closet and started to change.

When I came out, Annabeth looked me up and down. "You look good. I don't know why you don't want to wear that."

"It's a dress," I said. "And it's pink." I opened the door to go find Lacy. "Hey, where are my parents?"

"Your dad can't stay home today," Annabeth said. "Like always. And your mom is busy today, too. Showing her fashion ideas to a company."

I groaned. "I hate how my parents are always missing out on stuff important to their kids."

"Yeah," Annabeth said, knocking on Lacy's door. "That's just apparently how celebrities roll."

"Not all of them," I grumbled.

Lacy opened the door, still in her fuzzy pink pajamas and fluffy, white bunny slippers. "Are you going shopping for my dress?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm going to. Once Jason gets here."

I heard the doorbell ring. That meant Jason had just gotten past my dad's system.

Annabeth, me, and Lacy ran to the door and found Jason, Percy, and Leo standing there. They were each wearing a white dress shirt and a pink wristband.

"Zayum, Piper," Leo said, when he saw me. "You look all dressed up, don't you?"

I nodded. "And you."

Leo reached up to his neck and started scratching. "I feel very itchy and out of my comfort zone in this thing."

"Oh, really?" I said. "I didn't know you even had a comfort zone."

"Shut up, Beauty Queen," Leo said. "Especially since you actually do look like one today."

Lacy squinted at Leo and Percy. "_You_ guys weren't invited." She turned to Percy. "I don't even know you."

Jason scooped Lacy up. "This is Percy. Percy, this is Lacy. Piper's sister. And Lacy, Percy and Leo are going to help out with your party."

Lacy shrugged. "Oh, well, I guess they can stay."

Jason looked up at me. "Whoa, Pipes. You look... Wow. You look _really_ wow. It's so... Wow."

I hugged him. "Thanks, Sparky. You look pretty 'wow' yourself."

"Enough with the sappiness," Percy said. "So what's the plan, guys?"

"Well," I said. "Percy, you're going to drive to the store to get decorations. We need some decorations for outside and for inside. Then, you're going to decorate, and when Lacy and Annabeth finish with the cookies, they're going to help." I handed him a piece of paper with the list of the decorations. I had added a few more things to all the lists during the past week when I had free time.

DECORATIONS

* light and dark pink streamers

* pink and white balloons

* banner that says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LACY!"

* bouquets of flowers

* nine candles

* pink table cloth

"What's this?" Percy asked.

"A list of decorations," I said. "Percy, you're also going to bring Leo with you and drop him off at Baked With Love. You can pick Leo up when you're done buying decorations. Leo, when you get back with Percy, you're going to put all the desserts where they belong. It says it on the list." I took out Leo's list and handed it to him.

DESSERTS

* pink and white macaroons (crystal cupcake stand)

* vanilla and red velvet cupcakes with pink frosting topped with raspberries and coconut shavings (white cupcake stand)

* cookies with pink frosting and white sprinkles (pink plate)

* red velvet cake pops dipped in dark chocolate drizzled with pink drizzle stuff (white plate)

* strawberry pie (pink plate)

all plates and stands can be found when you ask Annabeth, who is the expert of this house, besides the people who live in it. Oh wait, Annabeth basically does live in it.

Leo looked at the list. "That's a lot of food. And a lot of pink."

"I know," I said, before taking out another list and handing it to Jason.

FOOD

* 2 egg salad sandwich

* 2 chicken salad sandwich

* 1 tuna sandwich

* 1 breakfast sandwich

* 2 ham and cheese sandwiches

* 1 BBQ tofu sandwich because Piper is vegan

pick up sandwiches from DELIcious. Order one of each and cut each one into four triangles. (36 triangles in all) Put all sandwiches on white plates.

"This is the list of the food," I told Jason. "Jason is going to drop me off at the mall so I can buy Lacy's clothes. Then, he's going to come back to the mall and pick me up. When we get back, it should be around eleven-thirty, and then we'll make smoothies."

Jason nodded. "I know. I'm the one who came up with this plan. Except the Leo part. I just decided to call him up today."

I snorted and turned to Annabeth and Lacy. "You two are going to bake the white chocolate chip cookies made from pink dough. Jason, give them their supplies."

Jason handed over the bag of baking materials that he had bought last night to Annabeth.

"When you're done," I continued. "You can help Percy decorate." I looked everyone in the eye. "Ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Mission Buy Stuff and Prepare for Lacy's Birthday Party has officially started!" Lacy announced.

LACY'S OUTFIT

* fluffy pink dress with layers and sparkles

* pretty white flats

* silver heart necklace

* silver bracelet

* silver princess tiara

When Jason dropped me off at the mall, I started walking to my favorite store, Beautify. Beautify is the company my mom owns. She's a very successful fashion designer, as well as a makeup artist. My mom's store is nationwide. Mom sometimes comes to visit her shops from all over the country to sign autographs and take pictures. She mostly visits the one here in Los Angeles. A lot of the time, she even helps her workers out if she has time.

Beautify sells everything for girls of all ages from jewelry to makeup and to (ahem) fluffy pink dresses with layers and sparkles. You just need to know the right places to search.

Of course, I know the right place to search. A few days before Beautify stores opened around the country, mom took Annabeth, me, and Lacy to the one in Los Angeles. She took us on a tour of the place to show us where everything was. Annabeth memorized the whole place by the first day, and Lacy memorized it by a week. I memorized the whole place in a month of going to the store almost everyday. I know that seems really slow, but it's not, because I know where to find everything, and by everything, I mean everything. This place was the biggest store in this mall, even bigger than the biggest Forever 21 in the USA. It's so big, but I still even know the family of ants that live in this one hole in the storage room.

I walked over to the formal dresses section for kids, way in the back of the store. I knew that mom had recently designed a pink, sparkly dress. She was inspired by Lacy, so I knew Lacy would love it.

White fluffy dress, purple tutu, sparkly blue high-low dress, baby pink gown, ugh! Where was this thing? Was it already out of stock?

I went over to a teenage employee with jet black hair and very serious eyes. "Excuse me, are you all out of this?" I pulled out a picture of the pink dress in the Beautify website.

"Yes," she said. "I'm sorry, but we are."

"Can I go in the storage room and look for one?" I asked.

"What?" the employee said. "No, why would I let you?"

I sighed and looked at the time. 9:37. This was an emergency. I had to tell her. "I'm Piper McLean."

"And I'm Reyna," she said. "That doesn't make me special, so why would being Piper McLean make you special?"

I let out another sigh. I didn't want to just go right out and tell her that I was Aphrodite McLean's daughter. I thought of a way to tell her without directly saying it. "Wow, mom really has to hire helpful, _nice _workers."

"Who's your mom?" Reyna asked, slowly. "The manager?"

"Even better," I whispered. "More like the designer of this whole store. Now let me in the storage room."

"You're Aphrodite McLean's daughter?" Reyna said, loudly.

I clapped my hand over her mouth. "Shh!"

Reyna took my hand off her mouth and looked at it as if it were a bug. "Okay. I'm not a big fan of other people touching me, not even celebrities."

I groaned. "See, this is why I don't tell people about my parents. They think I'm a celebrity. Well, I'm not, okay? It's just my parents."

"Who's your dad?" Reyna asked. She would totally freak if she found out my dad was Tristan McLean, an even bigger star than my mom.

"That's not the point," I said. "I need to get into the storage room, it's my sister's birthday, and I need to get her that dress. The one that my mother designed."

"Fine," Reyna grouched. "Just take a left, and-"

"I know where it is," I told her.

"Right," Reyna said, nodding. "Okay, have a good day." She started to walk away.

"Wait," I said. She turned back around. "You can't tell anyone about my mom. It could ruin my school reputation."

"How about a 'please?'" Reyna said.

"Oh yeah," I said. "Please."

Reyna nodded and walked away.

I turned left, walked straight, and took a right to get me to the storage room. I opened the door and found a few employees in there. After a few seconds of staring at me strangely, they went back to doing what they had been doing.

I tapped on one of the employees and showed him my phone with the picture or the dress. "Can you show me where this is?"

He nodded and took a box out. Sure enough, the dress was inside. The employee held it up and handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said.

He nodded again. Gods, the workers here weren't very social people.

"So where are we at?" I called out, when Jason and I got into the house at 11:25.

Annabeth, who was on a ladder, hanging streamers from the ceiling looked down to me. "Percy is decorating outside and setting up the tables. Lacy's in the dining room helping Leo put the treats on the stands and plates."

"Okay," I said. "I'm going to make some smoothies. How many people are coming again?"

"Nine," Annabeth said. "Not including us. But fourteen including us."

"I hate strawberries!" Leo shouted from the dining room. "And I hate everything made of strawberries! Except for strawberry pie..."

I rolled my eyes. "That's one less smoothie to make."

"Good luck with that." Annabeth went back to hanging the streamers.

"What am I going to do while that?" Jason asked, looking at me over the bags of sandwiches in his arms.

"Cut each sandwich into four triangles," I said. "That would be thirty-six triangles. Enough for each of us to have two triangles, and there will still be a couple left. Plus, we have the treats, too."

"'Kay," Jason said. He started walk to the kitchen and unpack the sandwiches. I followed

"Lacy!" I called.

Lacy came running into the kitchen from the dining room. "Yes?"

I held up a shopping bag and shook it. "I bought your outfit."

Lacy squealed and took it up to her room. Moments later, she came down the grand staircase in the dress that I had bought her and the white satin flats. The dress had a sequined floral embroidered top and a tulle skirt, while the flats were simple.

"Wow," I breathed. "You look really pretty, Lace." I took her hand and led her back up the stairs to the bathroom in her room. Then, I put her hair in a braided bun and tied a pink ribbon around it.

"I look like a ballerina!" Lacy cried, twirling around.

"I have three more surprises for you," I told her. I took out a mini shopping bag and pulled out the a silver bracelet with a heart charm.

"That's really pretty," Lacy said, amazed. She took it from me and put it on. "What are the other two surprises?"

I took out the matching necklace. "This is the second surprise." I helped her put it on.

"This looks really awesome on me," Lacy said.

I laughed. "Yes, it does." Then I pulled out a jeweled tiara. "This is the third surprise. Happy birthday, Lacy."

"Wow!" Lacy jumped up and down, and put the tiara on her head. "You're my favorite sister, Piper!"

"I'm your only sister," I reminded her. "Now go down there, and help Leo again. I'm sure he needs help, even with something as little as putting desserts on plates."

Right when I got done with making the smoothies, the doorbell rang.

Jason, Lacy, Piper, Annabeth, Leo, and Percy were all outside, decorating. I was the only one in the house, so I opened the door.

Standing there was little Sadie, with a bright red highlight in her blond hair. Next to her, was a tall, slightly cute muscular tan boy with curly hair in jeans and a band T-shirt. What was he doing here?

"Hi, Sadie," I said, nicely. "Lacy's outside. You can go ahead and go to the patio. Go through the backdoor."

Sadie nodded happily and skipped pas the grand staircase.

When she left, I looked at the boy. "Who are you?"

"Piper?" the guy said, after looking me up and down. It sounded like he was in disbelief. "Are you Piper? Piper McLean? From Goode High?"

"Um, yes," I said, carefully. "How do you know my name? Who are you? I don't think you were invited because, um, my sister doesn't invite people that go to Stalker High." I got the Stalker High thing from Carter. Heh.

"Haha," the guy said. "Very funny. Stalker High. You got that from me, didn't you?"

I scrunched up my eyebrows. "Excuse me? Who are you exactly? I don't think I even know you?"

The guy smiled a very dazzling smile. "I'm Carter Kane. I believe _you_ were the one who asked me to come, not Lacy."

I gawked at him. "Y-you're Carter?" This cute guy was annoying Carter? Okay, don't get me wrong. Jason is my everything, but this guy was pretty hot.

"Yes I am," Carter said. "So can I come in?"

I opened the door wider. "Um, sure, yeah."

"You have a really big house," Carter noted, stepping into the entrance hall.

"Yeah," I said. "I've heard."

"What do you parents do for a living?" Carter asked.

I stared at him. "Um, my mom's a fashion designer and my dad, erm. does other stuff."

"Okay," Carter said. "Cool. So why did you want me to come?"

I heard footsteps behind me.

"Who's this?" Jason asked, coming in with Annabeth.

I looked at him. "Oh, it's just Carter."

"Ah," Jason said. "It's the guy you're using."

"Um," Carter said. "What?"

"I'll explain to you later," I said. "Annabeth, can you lead him out to the back?"

"Sure," Annabeth said, taking a hold of Carter's wrist. "This way."

When they left, Jason turned to me. "Why did you invite Carter?"

"I had to explain to him our interesting lie," I said. "Because I was thinking, what if Drew talks to him about it? That would be really bad. I need him to play along."

"Oh," Jason said. "So you don't have a thing with him?"

I scoffed. "Of course not. I've never seen him until now."

"Okay." Jason nodded. "That's smart."

"Uh huh," I said, awkwardly. "Want to go to the back now?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "Okay, let's go." He took my hand, and we went back to the patio.

Annabeth and I crashed onto my bed with Jason and Carter following behind us. We had just had lunch, and now it was Leo and Percy's shift to help out with Lacy's party. They were now having a scavenger hunt.

Carter flopped onto my beanbag chair. "Nice room."

Jason stared at him. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

"What?" Carter looked confused. "No, man. I mean, I know this is your girl or whatever. Even though you don't have the guts to ask her to be your girlfriend. You've told me that, like, eight times. I'm just trying to tell her that her room is nice. Gods, dude, chill."

Jason still had a skeptical look on his face. "Right. And I do too have the guts."

"Can you tell me why I'm here now?" Carter asked me, changing the topic. "I mean, it's not like I mind being here. This place is actually really nice. It has a swimming pool, a theater, and-"

"Dude," Jason interrupted. "Shut up."

Carter shrank in his seat.

I stared at Jason. Why was he being so rude all of a sudden? Jason was usually way nicer. "Jason, I think it would best that you leave for this."

Jason gave me a weird sideways glance from his position leaning against the wall. "What? Pipes? Why?"

"You know why," I said.

Jason sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Maybe you should go help out Leo and Percy," Annabeth suggested.

"Maybe I will," Jason said. He opened one of my doors, went out, and closed it. I heard his footsteps going down the hall.

Carter cocked his head to a side. "Why did he need to leave?"

"Well," Annabeth said, thinking. "He could get, you know, jealous. Or out of control."

"Why would he do that?" Carter asked.

"You'll see," Annabeth said. She looked at me as if she were saying, _just tell him already. _

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "So, yesterday Jason and I drove to Disneyland to go on a date."

"And this has to do with me, why?" Carter said.

"Be quiet, and I'll tell you," I instructed.

Carter shut up.

"So, you know Drew Tanaka?" I asked.

"Yeah," Carter said. "She drools at me sometimes."

"Um," I said. "Ew. Anyway, her minion, Gwen saw Jason driving me, and she followed. When she got to Disney, she realized she didn't have tickets, and she was too stupid to get some herself, so she called Drew." I paused for a dramatic effect.

Carter nodded. "Okay, keep going."

"So Drew got Paris to come help," I continued. "Paris called me on the way there, warning me that Drew sent her and Gwen to go look for me."

"Wait." Carter helped up his hand in the 'stop' gesture. "Since when was Paris friends with you?"

I shrugged. "She was sick of Drew bossing her around. But, back to the story. So, we actually ran into them once by accident, and-"

"Carter, I think you're going to fall soon," Annabeth said.

I looked at Carter and noticed that he was leaning all the way to the edge of the chair.

"Oh, sorry," Carter said, scooting back. "It was just so suspenseful."

I rolled my eyes. What an idiot. A slightly good looking idiot. But Jason was a way better good looking idiot.

"Okay," I said. "So we had to fake british accents and stuff. Then, Drew got so frustrated that Paris and Gwen hadn't found me yet, so she came herself. I also ran into her once, but thank god, she didn't know it was me. Paris helped me disguise. So yeah, after the date, I called Paris. She asked me if my date was over already, and I said yeah. Then it turns out, that it was Drew."

I heard a thump, and looked over at Carter. He was sprawled across the floor.

Annabeth laughed and went over to help him up. "Are you okay?"

Carter turned red. "Yup, I'm fine." He looked at me, embarrassed. "Sorry, Piper. Continue."

"Um, okay," I said. "So Drew was all 'omg, so you were here with Jason!' And so I panicked and said, Jason drove me to Disneyland for a date, but the date wasn't with him."

"Who did you say it was with?" Carter asked.

I sighed. "Well, I had just gotten off the phone with you, and your rudeness was stuck in my mind, so I kind of told her I was on a date with you..."

Carter stared at me. "Are you serious?"

I looked away from him. "Yes. I need you to act like you're my boyfriend, Carter. And then I can fake dump you. Or you can fake dump me. Whichever works."

Carter looked at me for a really long time. "Okay. I'm in."

I looked back at him. "Are you sure? You seemed like you hated me so much when we first started talking on the phone, so I thought you'd-"

"I mean, yeah," Carter said. "But I guess now that I've actually talked to you for a whole hour because of the party, you seem pretty." Carter's eyes widened. "I mean pretty as in pretty okay."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's how it came out."

"It's not, but..." Carter started walking towards the door. "Look, I'm going to go help outside, okay?" He shut the door, quickly.

Annabeth let out a really weird noise after that.

"Ew," I said. "What was that ugly sound?"

"He likes you," Annabeth said.

"Jason?" I said. "Yeah, I know that."

"No, stupid." Annabeth shook her head. "Carter. He's totally into you. Can't you tell?"

"Um, no," I said. "I can't? Carter Kane is definitely not into me."

"Do you think he's cute?" Annabeth asked.

"That's not the point here," I said.

"Do you think he's cute?" Annabeth asked again.

"I think Jason's cute," I said.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "You know, it's possible to think two guys are cute at the same time. My teacher has a husband, and she has a mini celebrity crush on Pharrell Williams. Her husband knows, and he doesn't make a big deal. Now, let's try again. Do you think Carter is cute?"

"That's different," I told her. "A celebrity crush is different."

"I said, let's try again," Annabeth said, exasperated. "Do you think Carter is cute?"

"Maybe a little," I muttered.

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth jumped up. "You think Carter is cute!"

"Yeah," I said. "After you pressured me to say yes."

"No way!" Annabeth shouted. "You think Carter is cute!"

"Be a little louder, would you?" I grumbled.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "I will. PIPER MCLEAN THINKS CARTER KANE IS-"

I clapped my hand over her mouth.

The door opened wide, and Carter came in.

"Piper McLean thinks Carter Kane is what?" Carter asked.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Stupid. She thinks he's stupid."

Carter gave us a grin. "It's too bad you think that, Piper. Actually, maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure Annabeth was about to say that you think I'm cute. Am I right, Annabeth?"

Annabeth looked at me. I shook my head furiously.

She scoffed. "Of course not. Who would like a doofus like you?"

Carter snorted. "Right."

"Hey," I said, slowly. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"No," Carter said, innocently. He started backing up towards the door. "I'm gonna go help out the guys now..." He dashed out the door.

Annabeth scrunched her eyebrows. "He's an odd one."

I rolled my eyes. "You think I haven't noticed?"

"Huh," Annabeth said. "I think you totally like him. And he totally likes you."

"Are you serious?" I said. "I think he's cute, which doesn't mean I like him. People can be cute, without others being attracted to them. And some people don't have to be cute for other people to be attracted to them. They have good personalities. Jason happens to both be cute and have a good personality. So I like him, not Carter."

"So you're saying if Carter had a good personality, you would like him?" Annabeth asked.

I sighed. "No, it's not like that. Carter is cute and has a good personality already, but that doesn't make me like him."

Annabeth stared at me. "Sometimes, you don't make sense."

I groaned. "Why doesn't anyone get me around here?"

Annabeth shrugged. "No one gets me either." She tapped her head. "No one is complicated enough to think like this machine."

"Yeah, right." I snorted. "I bet I could."

"Oh yeah?" Annabeth said. "Is that a challenge?"

"Yep," I said.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes competitively. "It's on, McLean."

"Bring it, Chase," I joked.

"Quadratic formula," Annabeth said. "In five seconds." She took out her phone and started the stopwatch. "Go."

"Negativebplusorminusthesquarerootofbsquaredminusfourac." I took a breath. "Allovertwoa."

Annabeth stopped the stopwatch. "Pretty good, McLean. You're a fast talker. Four point fifty-seven seconds. Not as fast as me, but pretty fast."

"Oh yeah?" I started her stopwatch. "Go."

Annabeth repeated the quadratic formula, faster than I could follow.

I stared at the phone screen. "Four point zero two seconds."

Annabeth flipped her hair. "Am I good or what?"

"Pff," I said. "Not that good."

"Yeah?" Annabeth said. "How many digits of pi can you name?"

"A lot," I said.

"Start," Annabeth demanded.

"Three point one four one five nine two six five three five eight nine seven nine three two three eight four six two six four three three eight three two seven nine five." I took a breath. "Zero two eight eight four one nine seven one six nine three nine nine three seven five one zero… Um. Uh." I scratched my head. "Oh yeah! Eight two zero nine seven four… um. Four five nine…" I thought for a bit. "That's it. That's all I can go up to."

Annabeth scoffed. "Two three zero seven eight one six four zero six…"

"Okay, okay." I put my hands up in surrender. "I know, you can go on forever. But there's just one last question I've been dying to ask you."

"I probably know the answer," Annabeth said, honestly.

"Who is Meeko from Pocahontas?" I asked.

A troubled look crossed Annabeth's face. She cupped her hand around her ear and leaned towards my window. "Do you hear that, Piper? I think Jason is calling for you!"

"Answer the question," I said.

"Don't worry, Jason!" Annabeth said. "Piper's coming for you!"

"Who's Meeko?" I repeated.

"You know I've never watched Pocahontas," Annabeth said.

"Take a guess," I said.

"Fine," Annabeth said. She pursed her lips. "A raccoon."

My eyes widened. "What? How did you know that?"

Annabeth lifted her chin. "I know everything."

I cupped my hand over my ear and heard a faint voice from outside. "I think I hear Jason calling."

"Haha," Annabeth said, sarcastically. "That's not going to work. I've clearly won this little battle."

"No," I said. I got up. "It's actually Jason this time." I walked one of the doors and opened it. "Come on, Annabeth. I'm serious."

Annabeth got up from the bed. Jason's voice got louder.

"I think I hear him now," Annabeth said. Together, we ran down the halls, skipped some of the steps on the staircase, and ran to the back door. There we saw Drew, with her fist hovering over the grand prize of the scavenger hunt. The giant, glittery crown.

"Drew," I said, coldly.

"Dumpster Girl," Drew mocked.

I felt Annabeth take my phone from my back pocket. She held it up behind my hair, just so the camera was peeping out. I knew what she was doing. She was recording.

"Drew," Jason said. "For the hundredth time, can you please leave? And take your hands away from the crown. Sadie won it, and you shouldn't destroy it."

"Yeah," Sadie said. "Get your grubby hands away from my crown." She walked up to Drew and looked at her face. "Ew, what's that gross stuff on your face? It's all cakey and yucky."

"It's called foundation, idiot," Drew said.

"Your wearing too much foundation," Sadie said.

"Whatever," Drew said.

"Stop trying to ruin my party," Lacy said, emerging from the croud of little girls.

"Why are you even doing this, Drew?" I asked. "I thought I told you to get out of my life, like, ten years ago."

"Oh, Diaper," Drew said. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Oh, Drew," I said. "You can't either. And I don't think you've figured that out yet." I thought for a second. "Wait, did you just call my Diaper?" I laughed. "Do you really think that offends me? My friends call me that for fun."

Drew looked away. "Whatever."

"Is that all you know how to say?" Sadie asked. "Wow, even I have a bigger vocabulary than you do. And I'm almost ten."

"That's right," Annabeth said. "The only other thing she knows is the letter D. Her grade average."

Drew glared at Sadie. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Carter's sister," Sadie said.

Drew's eyes wandered over to Carter. Then, she put on a slightly creepy smile. "Ah, yes. Carter. Piper's new boyfriend."

Carter's eyes widened. "Um, yep. Totally."

Jason looked down at his feet and clenched his fists.

"Prove it," Drew said. "_Kiss._"

"Um," Carter muttered. "We're not that far into our relationship yet."

"Plus Drew," I said. "I think you missed what I said earlier. You can't tell me what to do. Or you can't tell us what to do, in this scenario."

"Shut up, Dumpster Girl," Drew snapped. She put her hand very low to the ground. "You do know that you're this low on the popular ratings in our school, right?" She put her hands over her head. "And you know that I'm this high?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. "High on drugs."

"Excuse me?" Drew said. "You know, you need to learn that you're a nobody, Piper McLean. You and your little, stupid sister are nobodies. You two will never get anywhere in life, you'll never be famous. You'll never have everyone like you, same with Annabeth."

"Hey, hey, hey," Leo interupted. "You're not allowed to talk to my friends that way, Drew. If you keep trash-talking about innocent people, you'll be the nobody."

"I have to trash-talk to her," Drew said. "Afterall, she's Dumpster Girl."

Okay, that was kind of funny, but I didn't like Drew, so I wasn't going to laugh.

"I told you Drew," I growled. "I don't need everyone to like me, because they don't. You know, not everyone likes you either. You already know that, Drew. Now, get off my property. Nobody let you on it anyway."

"Whatever," Drew said, walking away.

"You have a poor choice of vocabulary!" Sadie called after her.

Drew scoffed. "Whatever!"

Annabeth turned off the phone. "Drew is such an idotic drama queen!" She stomped her foot.

"I know," I said. Then, I heard my phone ring loud and clear. "Hold on, gotta take this." I picked up.

"What's up, Piper?" Paris said, brightly.

"Ugh," I groaned. "Everything."

"Oh no." Paris' tone changed. "What happened?"

"Wait," I said. "This _is_ Paris, right?"

"Um, duh," Paris said. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Last time, Drew picked up when I called," I told her. "She asked me how the date was, and I said it was great. Then she said that it was actually her, not you."

"Oh my gods," Paris breathed. "I'm so sorry. I asked Drew to watch my stuff while I was going on a ride, and I didn't know you called! Drew didn't even tell me. Ugh, no wonder she's been not talking to me much lately. She knows I'm your friend! This is going to completely ruin our plan to ruin her fake reputation. The plan to show people the real her."

"It's fine," I said. "We'll just pretend we got into a fight, then tell Drew that she was right all along and I was an idiot and a nobody."

"That's kind of harsh," Paris commented.

"It'll work," I said. "Have you got any audios or videos of her yelling at you yet?"

"Nope," Paris said. "But I have a feeling she'll yell at me soon."

"Make sure to get a video of that," I said. "But anyway, she accused me of going on a date with Jason, which I did, but I didn't tell her that. I panicked and told her that Jason drove me there for me to go on a date with Carter. I had said Carter's name because I had just gotten off the phone with him because Lacy was at their house because Carter's sister was her friend. And yes, I know that was kind of a run-on sentence."

"Carter Kane?" Paris completely ignored the run-on sentence part.

"Yes, Carter Kane," I said.

"Wow," Paris said. "So now you two have to pretend to date?"

"Precisely," I said. "We're going to fake break-up soon, though."

"Good luck with that," Paris said. "I have to go now. Chores. Yuck."

"Thanks," I said. "Good luck with chores. Blagh."

I heard a click and the line went dead.

"Who was that?" Jason asked, as the kids went back to talking excitedly while Leo brought out the cake.

"Paris," I answered. "It was kind of a check-up on me."

"Oh," Jason said. He turned to the kids. "Well, guys, it's time to light the candles."

Leo grinned. "Fun! I'll get the lighter!" He ran to the house, and within seconds, he was holding a lighter and wearing a big, evil smile. "FIRE!"

Leo lit every one of the nine candles on the cake, and turned off the lighter when he was done.

After the kids sang Happy Birthday, Lacy closed her eyes.

"Make a wish, Lace!" Sadie exclaimed.

"Yeah, Lacy, make a wish!" another kid cried.

"I wish that Drew would stop bullying Piper," Lacy said.

I smiled. "Lacy, you're not supposed to say the wish out loud."

"Oh, right," Lacy said. She changed her voice to a low whisper. "I wish Drew would stop bullying Piper."

I rolled my eyes as she blew out the candles. All the kids cheered.

I wish my life could be as easy as when I was nine. Absolutely now drama. Well, except for Drew, who was probably a drama queen at birth.


	20. Author's Note

**Hi, my fellow book nerds/fangirls/fanboys/unicorns! **

**Happy summer! :) **

**I'm really upset to announce that due to my SERIOUSLY busy summer schedule, I won't be able to update much this summer. Maybe once, or twice, or not at all. Sorry, I have tons of piano business and vacations and volunteering to do :( **

**However, I'll definitely be back to my normal updating schedule in September, and I hope that my readers will still be on fanfic, supporting me like always. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH :) **

**Once, again sorry, and I LOVE YOU!**

**-limegreen0421 **

**(Jackie)**


	21. Been Here All Along

**Hey there! :) Well I guess this is the first time I've updated since summer started! HIP HIP HURRAY! Also, it's a pretty decent chapter if you ask me ;) NO SPOILERS THOUGH! Enjoy reading and reviewing! I honestly love you so much! ~Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

**Been Here All Along**

I yawned and flopped onto my bed after most of Lacy's friends left. Annabeth had left because she had to go home to watch her brothers while her dad was at some business meeting, Jason had left to clean up his house before Thalia came, and Percy went to help Jason out. All that was left was me, Leo, Carter, Sadie, and obviously Lacy. Lacy and Sadie were downstairs watching a movie that Leo put in for them.

"Tiring day, huh?" Carter stood in my doorway.

I nodded, my eyes closed. My stomach was face down on the bed, but my face was looking to the right, where Carter was.

He came and sat on the edge of the bed next to me. "Especially with Drew and all. Right, babe?"

I opened one eye and peered at him with it. "What did you just call me? Did you just call me 'babe?'"

"Well I'm supposedly your boyfriend, remember?" He used finger quotation marks on the word 'boyfriend.'

"Drew's not even here," I mumbled.

"Oh," Carter said, sheepishly. "Just getting into character."

I closed my eye. "Right."

Carter placed his hand on my forehead. "Are you sick?"

I swatted his hand away. "No, just tired." It was sweet that Carter cared about me, but we just met, and I liked Jason. I needed to remember that.

I heard Leo bouncing up the stairs, and seconds later, he also appeared in the doorway to my room.

"Whoa," Leo said. "What's going on in here?" He took a moment to take in the scene. Me laying on the bed, Carter sitting very close to me.

Carter jumped up. "Nothing, dude. I was just talking to her."

"Good," Leo said. "Because she has her eye on Jason, not you."

"Shut up, Valdez," I said.

Leo squinted at me. "I'm going to stay here and babysit you kids to make sure nothing dirty happens."

"Leo!" I said, sitting up. "Are you serious? Nothing _dirty _is going to happen." I sighed. "But feel free to stay here anyway."

"Yes!" Leo exclaimed. "I get to hang out with the cool kids."

I stared at him. "Leo, I'm not cool."

"I'm not cool, either," Carter butted in.

Leo and I both looked at him.

"Excuse me?" Leo said. "You're very popular, and you know that."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Girls love you."

"Girls like you?" Carter said, hopefully.

"Haha," I said, sarcastically. "Nice try. No. I like Jason."

Carter's shoulders drooped. "It was worth a shot."

_October 22_

_I wouldn't quite say today was EXTREMELY horrible, because it wasn't. Today was Lacy's birthday party. It was really eventful. Jason came over with Percy and Leo to help me, Annabeth, and Lacy prepare. It was really nice of him, and we got done just when Sadie and her older brother arrived._

_Ugh, Carter. Carter makes me stomach knot up, and not because he's cute, but because he confuses me. Yesterday on the phone, he seemed so rude and not likeable (as a friend). I also imagined him way different than what he actually looks like. I imagined him as a rude, scrawny and pale boy with shaggy blond hair. He was definitely not that._

_I hated him when I talked to him on the phone. But when he showed up at my door, he was all muscular and tan and had a dazzling smile. I HATE THAT. I'm not sure what to feel about him. Sure, he's nice, but do I really even know this guy? He could be a kidnapper for all I know. Maybe even a rapist._

_Kidnapper/rapist or not, I told him about the whole Drew-Gwen-Jason-Disneyland-Carter-Boyfriend situation. He seemed completely cool with pretending to be my boyfriend. A little too cool, actually. I think he keeps dropping hints that he kind of likes me, but I try to ignore them. I feel like I'm being rude, but hey, I like Jason, and Carter knows it._

_-Piper McLean_

"How was last night after I left?" Annabeth asked when I got to school.

I yawned. "It was okay. Carter was acting a little weird."

"Don't worry," Annabeth said. "That's normal."

I laughed. "I would think so." I rubbed my eyes as we walked to Annabeth's homeroom.

Annabeth sighed. "How late did you stay up last night?"  
"Not very," I replied. "It's just that Lacy jumped on me really early this morning to say that it's her birthday tomorrow, and I couldn't sleep since."

"Oh, trust me," Annabeth said. "I know how you feel. Twins are even worse. But you gotta love them, right?"

"Right," I said. We got to Annabeth's homeroom.

"See ya," Annabeth said.

"Mmm," I said back, sleepily.

I started making my way to my homeroom when I ran into Jason. Literally.

We both got knocked to the ground and our books went flying everywhere as we layed sprawled out on the floor. I turned fifty shades of red and stood back up.

It wasn't like I was embarassed around Jason, because afterall, I've known him my whole life. It's just that whenever I fall, it looks really stupid. My body spills out just about everywhere. My legs are spread out and my hands are also spread out, catching my fall. I usually look like a demented starfish.

"Whoops," Jason said in the cutest way possible. He started to pick up some of our books. "Sorry, Pipes. Didn't see you there."

I helped him pick up the books. "It's okay. I wasn't looking."

"So are we still up for today?" He gave me back my books, and I gave him back his.

I smiled at him. "Definitely."

...

"I'm home!" Jason shouted at no one in particular as we walked through the front doors. "And I've got Piper with me!"

I heard excited footsteps rush down the stairs, and saw Thalia enter the entrance hall.

"Oh my gods!" she exclaimed, running over to me and squeezing the living daylights out of me. "I missed you, Piper! You know, Jason cannot shut up about you. Once, we were talking on the phone, and-"

"Thalia!" Jason looked quite embarassed by now. "You can stop right there."

"Sorry, little bro." Thalia patted her brother on the head. "I may have gotten carried away."

"May have?" Jason repeated.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "So what's Piper doing here?" She gasped. "Don't tell me. You guys are already dating?" She squealed. "Oh my gods, so cute! Here, let me take a picture-" She started pulling out her phone.

"No, no," Jason interrupted. "We're still friends."

"Oh." Thalia was clearly disappointed.  
"But he did take me on a date on Saturday," I offered.

"Still cute," Thalia said.

"That's actually why we're here," Jason said. "We took a whole bunch of pictures, so we're going to both make collages. I downloaded a printed all the pictures we took, including the ones on my phone and Piper's phone. We're gonna be up in my room, in case you need anything."

"Okie dokie." Thalia grinned. "I'll be down here making snacks."

Jason and I made our way up the stairs to Jason's room. His room had pictures everywhere. There were some on the ground, on his desk, and his bed. There was just one empty circle in the middle of his room, large enough for two people to sit. The empty circle had two fabric bulletin boards in it. One had a picture of the night sky with sillhouettes of palm trees on it, and one was just plain white.

"Wow," I muttered. "I didn't realize we took so many pictures."

Jason nodded and sat down. "The one with the palm trees is yours."

I nodded and sat down.

We got right to work, glueing and taping things, adding glitter, talking and laughing, the works. By the time we were done, my bulletin board had about twenty pictures on it. Twenty including one of us posing with Sleeping Beauty with her crown on my head, a few selfies, a few sceneries, and the one of Jason kissing my cheek. It was a masterpiece, if I do say so myself.

"This is going to look so great on my wall." Jason grinned and gestured to one of the walls near his bed.

"Mine too," I said. "This was a great idea, Jason."

"It was pretty great, wasn't it?" Jason joked, his eyes gleaming.

"It was," I agreed with him, who was agreeing with me, so technically, I was agreeing with myself.

Jason leaned close to me and my heart started racing. His face was about four inches away from mine.

"Just like you," he whispered.

"Me?" I squeaked, as he leaned a bit closer. Was he going to kiss me? Was my crush from ten thousand years ago finally going to kiss me? Was Jason Grace going to be my first kiss?

"Yes, you," he whispered. "You're perfect, Piper McLean. Everything about you is perfect. Your eyes, your hair, the way you always smell like cinammon, your personality… Everything, Piper. And I was stupid to not realize this before."

At this point, I literally stopped breathing. His lips were only an inch away from mine, and his eyes were looking in mine, searching for nothing, but everything at the same time.

"Jason," I whispered back. "I'm really not."

"Yes," he said. "You are." Then, he closed the space between our lips.

At first, the kiss was really soft. Our lips moved in sync as he put his hands on my waist. I lifted me up onto his lap, without breaking the kiss. I put my hands on the back of his head and started to press my lips to his with a little more force. He pulled me closer and started to play with my hair with one hand. I wrapped my legs around him and he picked me up and kept kissing me. I could feel him smile as he sat on his bed with me on top of him, and I smiled back.

We were suddenly interrupted when the door busted opened to reveal a very surprised Thalia, holding a plate of cookies in one hand.

"I thought you guys weren't dating?" she said, awkwardly. "Because that was even more intense than how Luke and I kiss."

I sprung off Jason's lap, both of us bright red.

"Haven't you heard of this thing called knocking?" Jason said with embarassment.

"I told you I would make some snacks." Thalia ran her hand through her hair. "So I baked cookies. I came up here to give them to you, but I didn't think…" She bursted out with laughter.

"Shut up," Jason said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, okay." Thalia stopped laughing, but you could tell she was trying really hard not to start up again. She walked over to Jason's desk and put the plate of cookies on it. "The cookies are going to be on to be on the desk if you want any. Which you probably won't, because you're going to be too busy with, ahem, something else…" She winked and smiled.

"Thalia!" Jason said in disbelief.

I let out a small chuckle, despite how embarassede I was.

"Well." Thalia started to walk out the door. "You two kids have fun!" Then, she closed it.

I stood there staring at Jason who was sitting on the bed, and he stared back. An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Um." Jason broke the silence. "That was… Wow."

"What do you mean 'that was wow?'" I smirked a little.

"You're an amazing-"

"Kisser?" I interrupted.

"No," Jason said, flustered. "I mean, yes, but I was going to say that you're an amazing person."

I smiled. "Thanks, I get that a lot?"

"Oh yeah?" Jason teased. "From who?"

"Mostly from my mom and Annabeth," I admitted.

"That's because you are," Jason said, grabbing my hand and pulling me down to sit on the bed with him. "You should listen to them. And again, I was stupid not to realize that."

"Yeah, well," I said. "I've been here all along."

He pulled me closer by my waist, and pressed his lips onto mine.

Nice going, Piper. You just got your first and second kiss in the same day. This was absolutely perfect.

...

"Tell us again," Calypso begged.

After going to Jason's house and encountering that, ahem, kiss, I went home and put up the bulletin board filled with our pictures and glitter. Then, I called up Annabeth, Hazel, Calypso, and Rachel. I asked them to meet up with me at our usual hang out place, Fruity Smoothies. They obviously sell smoothies, but they sell other things like frozen yogurt and pastries with fruit in them.

We used to hang there a lot. But these past few weeks, with all the drama about Homecoming on Friday, we haven't been able to go there much. Plus, Calypso is on the volleyball team and the Homecoming comittee, so she's very often. So is Annabeth. We usually always go there on weekends, when we know that there's no school stuff in the way, but most of us were busy this weekend.

Now, we were all sitting in a booth, waiting for a waitress to come.

"I already told you," I said. "We were making the picture collage thing, and we just leaned in and kissed. Then Thalia came and left, then we kissed again. No big deal."

"Oh, but it is," Annabeth said. "You kissed the Jason Grace _twice_. The Jason Grace on the football team, the soccer team, and the hockey team. The Jason Grace who's one of the most popular boys in this school. The Jason Grace who was supposedly in love with Drew. The Jason Grace who you've had a crush on since you were a kid. It's totally and completely a big deal."

Hazel and Rachel nodded so hard, I was afraid their heads would fall off.

"You guys are ridiculous." I rolled my eyes. "It was just a kiss, nothing more." Well actually it was everything to me. I had been crushing on him for such a long time, and I'd never kissed anyone, until him. And it was a big deal because I got to have my first kiss with my first crush. That kiss meant everything to me, I just didn't want to show it.

The waitress came and asked us which smoothies we wanted. Her name was Nyssa and she went to our school. She was really nice, but also really serious. She's Leo's cousin, but has the exact opposite attitude as him.

"The usual please," Annabeth said. "For all of us."

Nyssa started scribbling down on her notepad. "That would be a Strawberry Spritz for Annabeth, a Very Berry for Piper, a Grape Goodness for Hazel, a Tropical Twist for Calypso, and a Apple Avalanche for Rachel?"

"Precisely," Hazel said, nodding.

Nyssa nodded and left.

"She's so serious," Rachel commented. "How did she get a date to the Homecoming dance, and we didn't?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Percy asked me to go with him, but it's probably a 'just as friends' thing again. Like our supposed date."

I smiled sympathetically. "It's okay. He probably likes you a lot, but is too scared of you to admit it."

Annabeth laughed. "You need to shut up, Piper."

I smiled at her. "So how are you guys doing with Homecoming?"

"The game or the dance?" Hazel asked, just to clarify.

"Any," I said.

"No date to the dance," Rachel said, shrugging. "Like two guys have asked, but I kind of like the single vibe at the moment."

"I don't have a date either," Calypso admitted. "Guys always leave you, so I don't get the point."

I bit my lip. If Jason was my boyfriend, would he ever leave me? I mean, I got why Calypso had issues with guys, but maybe it was just because she came across the wrong ones.

"Jason might ask me," I said. "Well, I'm hoping he does. If he doesn't, then I'll just stay home and study. My history teacher mentioned a test next Monday."

"We can all go to the game together," Annabeth suggested.

"Sounds pretty good." Hazel nodded at the idea.

"Yeah," I said. "But I kind of have rehearsals with the band before the game, so I'll meet up with you guys after we perform."

Nyssa came back to give us our smoothies and left.

I smiled and sipped on my smoothie. Gotta love Very Berry. After a few sips, we all looked up at one another.

"Switch," we all chanted.

Calypso passed me her Tropical Twist, I passed Annabeth my Very Berry, Annabeth passed Hazel her Strawberry Spritz, Hazel passed Rachel her Grape Goodness, and Rachel passed Calypso her Apple Avalanche.

"Blegh," Rachel gagged, not touching the Grape Goodness. "I've tried this the first time we started going to Fruity Smoothie and we switched. It's disgusting. Grapes alone? Yum. Grape juice? Yeah, that makes sense. But grape _smoothies? _Ew, no. How do you drink this every time you come here, Hazel?"

Hazel shrugged. "I think it tastes fine."

"Apple smoothies are pretty weird, too," Calypso pointed out. "They taste okay, I guess, but the idea of it is weird. I mean, people hear about apple juice and grape juice, but only Fruity Smoothie serves it in smoothies."

"Switch," we all said again.

Calypso passed me Rachel's Apple Avalanche, I passed Annabeth Calypso's Tropical Twist, Annabeth passed Hazel my Very Berry, Hazel passed Rachel Annabeth's Strawberry Spritz, and Rachel passed Calypso Hazel's Grape Goodness.

"I say Very Berry is the second best flavor here," Hazel declared.

"I think Berry Nut Hut is," I said. "Too bad none of you ever order it."

"Coconut Crazy definitely comes in second," Calypso objected. "I only get it when my dad takes me here."

"Coconut Crazy comes in third," Annabeth said. "Very Berry and Pomegranate Party come in tied as second."

"Actually," Rachel said. "I agree with Calypso. Coconut Crazy comes second."

"Switch," we all declared.

I got Grape Goodness, Annabeth recieved Apple Avalanche, Hazel was passed Calypso's Tropical Twist, Rachel got my Very Berry, and Calypso took the Strawberry Spritz.

Annabeth didn't touch the Apple Avalanche. "There's too much cinnamon in this. It makes it spicy. Not like pepper spicy, but like spice spicy."

I snorted. "That sounded smart."

"Speaking of spicy," Hazel said, wriggling her eyebrows at Annabeth. "Here comes Percy… He's with Leo."

Annabeth and I, who were sitting on the same side of the booth, turned around. Sure enough, Percy and Leo were walking towards us.

"What's up, ladies?" Leo called, when he saw us. He slid into Calypso, Hazel, and Rachel's side of the booth, right next to Calypso because she was sitting on the outside. Calypso gritted her teeth.

Percy slid into me and Annabeth's side of the booth. Because Annabeth was sitting on the outside, Percy sat next to her. Annabeth isn't a real fan of the inside seat, even on a plane or the bus.

"Boys," Calypso mumbled under her breath.

I smiled at her and mouthed 'sorry'. All of us knew that Calypso hated most guys.

"Hey, A," Percy said.

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth acknowledged him.

"Wise Girl," he shot back.

"Shut up," Annabeth said.

Percy grinned, triumphantly.

Nyssa came over to our table. "Need anything, boys?"

"No thanks, Nyss." Leo waved her off. "Just here to hang out while the girls finish their smoothies.

"Speaking of which…" I began.

"Switch." You know the procejure. This time, I got Annabeth's Strawberry Spritz.

"You know," Nyssa said. "Normally I would make you boys leave because you didn't order anything, but Leo's my cousin, so my dad would yell at me if I made Leo leave. So, have a good day." She slapped the check onto the table. "Here's your check." Then, she left.

"Why doesn't she have much of a carefree mood like you, Leo?" I asked. "I always wondered that, but I never asked."

"I'm glad she's not as annoying as Leo," Calypso grumbled.

Leo sighed. "Thanks for the love, Sunshine."

"Don't call me that," Calypso grumbled.

"I thought Percy said you were _nice_," Leo muttered.

Calypso clenched her jaw. "I am nice. I'm just not naive anymore." she was glaring at Percy.

"Look, I said I was sorry," Percy said. "I don't know what else I can do."

"What?" Annabeth said, all confused. "You guys have some kind of history?"

"Forget about it," Percy said. "It's not anything important."

"To me it was," Calypso whispered so softly that I could barely hear. I don't think anybody else heard, or maybe they just ignored it.

I felt so bad for Calypso. I still couldn't believe that Percy had left her, and just never said anything to her again. I remember Calypso telling me about how they actually had a thing together. That was just about a week ago, yet it seemed so long ago.

I fully support Annabeth and Percy. But I have two doubts about them. One, if they date, it would make Calypso more heartbroken than she was already. Two, Percy could hurt Annabeth, just like he did with Calypso. I believed that Percy is a good friend, just maybe not a good boyfriend.

"Switch?" I said, awkwardly, staring at my smoothie in Calypso's hand that I wanted to drink so badly.

We all shuffled our drinks around awkwardly.

I took a big sip out of mine. "So, the Homecoming dance. Who's going?" Yes, I tried to change the subject, but failed miserably when Percy made Calypso jealous, unintentionally.

"Me and Annabeth are going," Percy said, brightly.

Calypso gritted her teeth. "Excuse me for a second." She stood out and basically shoved Leo out of the booth so she could get out. She calmly walked into the bathroom.

Percy stared at her back. "I have no idea what that was about."

"I'm going to go get her," I said.

No one budged.

"I said," I tried again. "I'm going to go get her."

Nobody moved.

"Move!" I said, urgently.

"Oh," Percy said. He got out of the booth and stood to the side. Annabeth did the same. She stared at me suspiciously.

"Jerk," I muttered as I walked passed Percy.

"Okay," I heard Percy say as I walked to the bathroom. "I definitely have no idea what _that _was about. What is up with them?"

Oblivious, oblivious Percy.

I opened the bathroom door, and the sent of fruit smelling soap greeted me when I entered.

"Calypso?" I said. "Which stall are you in?" I saw her gladiator sandals in the stall for handicapped people. I went over and knocked lightly on the door. "Calypso, let me in."

There was a click and I saw Calypso standing in front of me with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

"Oh, Calypso…" I went into the stall and locked the door behind me.

"He's so oblivious!" Calypso cried. Not literally, I meant cried like shouted. But she looked like she was about to actually cry. "He doesn't know how much he's hurting me."

I studied her face. She looked so hurt, so pained. Annabeth wondered if she and Percy had some kind of history. And they did, and I knew their story. But I couldn't help but wonder if I didn't know the full story. I mean, there was no way that just one little rejection could've hurt Calypso like this. And even if it did, it was years ago.

"There's more to it," I said quietly. "Isn't there?"

Calypso nodded and smiled sadly.

"Fifteen," Calypso whispered. "I'm fifteen and I've been hurt way more times than a fifteen year old should ever be hurt."

"Tell me," I said. "Not because I'm nosy. But because I need to know. And I need to know that you trust me, Calypso. Not only that, but you need to tell someone. You can't keep it in forever."

Calypso let out a shaky sigh. "Remember when I told you he said that he liked me in elementary school?"

I nodded.

"Well, the next year, in sixth grade, we kissed." Calypso let out a little laugh and wiped away the tears in her eyes. "What should I know, right? I was only eleven. But to me, a stupid eleven year old, that kiss meant everything. I was a kid. I thought a kiss meant sealing you love for someone forever."

I nodded again. I didn't even know what to say. My friend sounded so heartbroken, so mature, so experienced. I could never sound like that, not even in an essay.

"I thought it meant to grow up, marry, move in together, and have kids. I thought it meant raising the kid together, watching the kids' kindergarten graduation together, and cuddling up on the couch with blankets as a family. I thought it meant growing old, sleeping together, and dying together." She let out a small sob.

My eyes started to tear up.

"But I was wrong." The words sounded like she had just been stabbed with a knife.

"I'm so sorry, Calypso," I whispered, letting the tears fall. She hadn't even gotten to the point of her story yet, but I was already crying more than she was. It seemed like she was already bored with this story almost, like she had repeated it inside her head so many times and cried about it so many times, that she could only muster a tear or two now.

"We kind of had this thing with each other for a long time," Calypso continued. "He would flirt with me, and I would flirt back. I would flirt with him, and he would flirt back. Then, near the end of seventh grade, when I thought he loved me, curse my twelve year old mind, I asked him out. He smiled and said maybe. Then, he just shut me out."

I hated how Calypso talked like every word was like swallowing glass. She was always so cheerful, I couldn't believe that just one guy could do this to a person.

"He avoided me in the hallways, he didn't look at me in the few classes we had together. He started hanging out more with Annabeth than he had before. I wasn't a big fan of jealousy. Annabeth being his friend didn't make me jealous at all. It just made me think that obviously Annabeth was more important to him than I was."

I wiped at my tears again. Calypso sounded like she was so grown up, like she was talking about something that happened decades ago, but in truth, only happened three years ago.

"Then, in the middle of eighth grade, I reminded about the fact that I asked him out when I passed by him in the hallway. He just looked at me like he missed me or something. Things got really heated up, and we kissed again. This kiss felt mostly out of desperation, so it felt like he wanted me. Then he said that he would come back to me on that. He promised. Afterwards, he just never talked to me again." Calypso took another shaky breath.

"Gods, Calypso." I said, rubbing my eyes. "I never knew it was like that."

Calypso nodded. "But he kept flirting with girls in front of me, and he knew I was there. Once he actually made eye contact with me while he was huggin Annabeth and actually smiled at me. And it wasn't even a nice smile. So, then, I just backed off, and never talked to him."

"I swear to the gods," I growled. "That boy-"

"Please don't hate him," Calypso squeaked.

My expression softened. "Okay." I pulled her into a hug. "I'm here, Calypso, if you ever need to talk."

Calypso nodded.

I grabbed her hand I pulled her out of the bathroom.

"Whoa, Pipes," Leo said as we approached. "You look like you were crying in there."

"I just yawned," I lied. "So tears came out."

Leo shrugged. "Alright then."

"Let's go then." Percy rubbed the back of his neck, and getting out of his seat.

"Jerk," I said.

Calypso elbowed me.

"Oh, right," I said. "Nevermind, Percy, I take that back."

Percy stared at me with an eyebrow raised. "Man, what is up with you bipolar girls these days?"

"Watch it," Annabeth said, glaring.

Percy huffed. "But we're still going to Homecoming together, right?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Sure."

Leo snorted. "You know how many girls have already begged for me to go to Homecoming with them?"

Hazel laughed. "Let me guess, zero?"

Leo scoffed. "Pfft, no. Like, twenty-seven."

"Do you even know twenty-seven girls?" I asked doubtfully. "Actually, do you even know twenty-seven _people_?"

"Haha, very funny, Beauty Queen," Leo said, sarcastically. "But, seriously, let's go now."

We all got out, and walked out the door.

...

"No. Freaking. Way!" Paris squealed at me through the phone.

I was at home in my bedroom after dinner, watching stupid Youtube videos, when I decided to call Paris and tell her about the kiss.

"I can't believe you kissed him!" she rambled on.

"Actually, he kissed me," I corrected.

"Even better!" Paris said, happily. "I also have good news."

"What is it?" I asked. "Do you have a date for Homecoming or something?"

"No," Paris said. "I mean yes, but that's not it. I was walking through the hallway, going to French class, minding my own business, when I heard Drew around the corner. So then, I started to not mind my own business and listen to her conversation. And you know what I found out?"

"What?" I said.

"Turns out, Drew's been harassing this kid to do her homework," Paris told me. "He's this nerd dude, I think his name is Malcom, Annabeth's cousin or something. But anyway, I recorded it, and I'm going to text it to you, so I'm going to hang up now."

"Okay," I said. "Bye."

"Bye!" There was a click, and the line went dead.

A few minutes later, a video popped up from Paris. I tapped on it and began to play it.

In the video, Drew had Malcom up to the wall with a muderous look on her face. Malcom was looking at the ground, with a shamed look on his face.

"_I can't believe you forgot to finish my history paper!" Drew shrieked. _

"_Sorry, sorry." Malcom mumbled. "I had my own history paper to do, and an English essay, plus some Calculus-"_

"_Shut up, nerd!" Drew interrupted, rudely. "How many times did I have to remind you? I sent you three whole texts!"_

"_I didn't check my phone," Malcom said, defensively. "Like I said, I have other homework to do."_

"_You idiotic nerd!" Drew shoved Malcom into the wall again. "You'd better finish that paper before third period, or your little secret is out."_

"_Okay, okay," Malcom said, inching away from Drew. "I will, I promise."_

_Drew sneered. "Good." She leaned in close to Malcom's face, and his hands trembled with fear. "And I just wanted to remind you… That I. Can Ruin. Your. Life." She shoved him against the wall again, and stalked off angrily._

The video stopped, and I stared at the screen shocked. Drew was horrible, and I already knew that, but I never knew she actually hurt people like that. How could Jason have ever even thought about dating a monster like her?

Speaking of Jason, I heard a knock on a window, and knew it was Jason. Smiling, I rushed to my window and pulled away the curtains. Jason smiled back and held up a sign.

_Hey you :)_

_Hey :P_

_Let's talk about it_

_About…?_

_The kiss_

_What's there to talk about?_

_Well, usually when people kiss, they talk about it afterwards. Like, what's our status?_

_Well, what do you want it to be?_

_Idk really_

_So much for talking about it xD. Lol you know, you're really not making it easier._

_I know, I know. BUt really, I just don't know. I really like you Pipes._

I blushed and decided to get all smart.

_I really like you, Pipes. *note the comma betweeen 'you' and 'Pipes'_.

Jason rolled his eyes.

_Just say you like me already, we all know that._

_How do we know that? :P_

_You wouldn't have kissed me back if you didn't like me ;)_

I heard a gasp, so I whirled around. There, standing in the doorway of my room, was Lacy.

"You kissed?" Lacy's jaw was wide open. Then, she started to jump up and down, excitedly. "I can't believe you guys finally kissed! I can't believe it! Can't believe it!"

I turned back to Jason and smiled sheepishly.

_Sorry, I should've shut my door. Anyway, looks like I have to go talk to Lacy now, so see you tomorrow? :)_

_Definitely. :)_

I looked back at Lacy. "Yeah, we kissed, but you can't tell anybody."

"So are you…" Lacy came over to me and sat on my bed next to me. "Princess and Prince yet?"

I laughed. "No, Lace, we're not Princess and Prince."

"King and Queen?" Lacy tried.

"Nope," I said, smiling.

"Husband and wife?" Lacy asked.

I wrinkled my nose. "It's too early for that."

"Fiances?" Lacy said.

"How do you even know that word?" I wondered.

"I'm eight, not stupid," Lacy pointed out. "Girlfriend and boyfriend?"

"Not even." I sighed.

"Do you want to be?" Lacy asked, curiously.

"I don't know," I said, truthfully. "It might ruin our friendship, but I do really want to be his girlfriend."

"I think you guys would be a great couple," Lacy said, happily. "Greater than him and Drew."

I hugged Lacy. "I sure hope so."

* * *

**So after twenty chapters, JASPER GOT THERE FIRST KISS! SQUEEE! I told you it'd be interesting ;) **

**Calypso, Piper, Annabeth, Hazel, and Rachel at the smoothie shop was like SOOOOO friendship goals! *switch***

**Thank you everyone for reading and staying with me all this time, I hope you keep on reading this book, and read the upcoming sequels when I'm done with it.**

**Review below please! ~Jackie**


	22. Expect the Unexpected

**SOOOOO! First September update! Told you :) And 8414 words too! Am I cool, or what? **

**Also, HAPPY SCHOOLYEAR! **

**Anyway, enjoy! Or not enjoy. Either one works. But mostly enjoy. Please. ~Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

**Expect the Unexpected**

I woke up, earlier than usual, smiling happily. Today would be a good day. Yesterday, I had kissed Jason, and today, he might actually ask me to be his girlfriend. Also, today would be a good day for Lacy, too. It was her birthday today, and I was planning to take her to a place called Park Fair.

Park Fair was was an outdoor amusement park for kids and adults all ages. In October, they do this thing called Park Scare for Halloween. It's basically where they decorate the amusement park with Halloween decorations and have the workers dress up. It's not too scary though, or else no kids would want to go.

Lacy always had and always will love Park Fair. She's been there a few times, but now my parents are so busy that they can't take her anymore. So, I take her occasionally. I've taken her to Park Scare only once before, and she loved it even more than the regular Park Fair, so she was going to have a fantastic day.

Excitedly, I took out my journal and a pen. I couldn't wait to write about the kiss and Lacy's birthday.

October 24

I have a lot to tell you today, journal.

It's pretty early in the morning, and I still have an hour and a half left until I have to start driving to school, so I don't have to worry much.

Anyway, yesterday, I went over to Jason's house to make a collage of our pictures from Disneyland. It's hanging on the wall right now. BUt when we were done, we started talking, and he actually kissed me! It was really nice and we actually wound up on the bed. No worries, nothing naughty.

Then, Jason's sister, Thalia, came in and was all shocked and confused. When she left, we kissed again, and things couldn't be anymore perfect.

I went to Fruity Smoothie with Annabeth, Calypso, Hazel, and Rachel after that. Juniper comes with us sometimes, but not this time. There, Calypso told me about what went on with her and Percy. It's really sad, but I'm not going to write it in here, because sometimes *ahem* people (Yes, Lacy, I'm talking to you) go into my journal.

So, today is Lacy's birthday! I'm planning to take her to Park Scare today because she loves it there, and she won't be able to get into my journal all day because I'm bringing it to school.

TODAY IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE BEST DAYS EVER!

-PIper McLean

I grinned and closed the journal. Today was definitely going to be a good one.

I got off my bed and walked into my bathroom. I brushed my teeth, rinsed my mouth with mouthwash, and washed my face. Then, I hopped into the shower and started washing.

When I came out, it was 6:00. I wrapped my hair into a towel and did my after-shower routine (lotion, deoderant, etc.) After that, I wrapped my body into a shower, walked out of the bathroom and into my closet.

Trust me, I'm not all about impressing people like Drew is, but today, I needed to look good. I needed to look good for Lacy's birthday, and for Jason. Something casual, but cute.

I ended up choosing a lace tank and black leggings. I tied a red flannel around my waist and headed back into my bathroom to blow dry my hair. When it was dry, I sprayed just a little bit fragance mist on myself. I braided random strands of my hair like always, and headed down stairs.

By now, it was 6:30. Thirty more minutes until I have to leave.

I hummed to myself as I made pancakes. A plate for me, and a plate for Lacy. When I finished the plate, I put the shiniest fork I could find next to Lacy's pancakes, left the syrup bottle and whipped cream can on the table in a nice arangement, and wrote a note to her.

Lacy-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST LITTLE "SISTER" ANYONE COULD EVER HAVE! I made you pancakes, so all you need to do is ask Mom to heat it up, (Dad's not home this morning, but he will be tonight, so don't you worry), drizzle on some syrup and spray on as much whipped cream as you want. Today, I won't be there to stop you :)

I'm sorry that I won't be able to see you until the afternoon. I'll pick you up today, I promise. I have a surprise for you, afterall.

Until then, you better have the bestest day at school. Show all your friends who the most fabulous birthday girl is in the whole world. I love you so much, Lace, and I'll see you after school.

-Your loving "sister", Pipes

I smiled to myself as I folded the pice of paper and set it right next to the fork. Then, I walked up to Lacy's room, kissed her on the forehead, and walked back downstairs.

Then, I slipped on my favorite brown Uggs, grabbed my backpack, and headed out the door.

It was already lunch, and Jason hadn't said anything about going on another date, or becoming more than friends. He talked to me earlier, but it was mostly "Hey, Pipes"and "Tell Lacy I said happy birthday."

Annabeth came over and plopped down next to me. "Don't worry about it." I had told Annabeth about how I hoped he would ask me to be his girlfriend today before the bell rang this morning.

"I'm not," I lied.

"He's probably just shy," Calypso said, gently, sitting on the other side of me.

"Jason isn't shy," Rachel objected.

Annabeth shot her a look and Rachel shut up.

"Then maybe he's just too shy to ask Piper," Hazel suggested, quickly, sitting next to Rachel who was across from me.

"I think Hazel's right," Juniper said. I told her about the kiss this morning. Juniper may not be one of my best friends, but she is still a super close friend.

"Thanks guys," I said, poking at the gross whole grain spaghetti on my tray. "Anyway, I was hoping you guys could join me this afternoon to go to Park Scare. I'm surprising Lacy for her birthday. Don't worry, I can pay for everyone's tickets."

Annabeth nodded. "I'm in. I'm always in, Piper. Don't worry about it."

Rachel winced. "I can't."

"Something with your dad?" I guessed.

Rachel sighed. "Yeah. I'm really sorry, Piper, I wish I could make it, but you guys know how my dad is. Tell Lacy I said happy birthday."

I smiled sympathetically and understandingly. My parents were often busy, but at least they didn't drag me along to their stuff.

"I can come," Juniper said. "Grover and I don't have anything planned for tonight."

"So can I." Calypso took a bite of her salad. "I just feel bad that you always pay for us."

I shrugged. "It's no big deal." I looked at Hazel. "Can you come?"

"I just have to ask my dad," Hazel said. "He'll probably say yes."

"Great," I said. "Just meet me by my car after school."

We continued to eat, until I felt a body slide in between me and Calypso. I looked over and rolled my eyes once I saw who it was.

"Ladies," Carter Kane said.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" I asked. "Like sitting with the cheerleading squad." I glanced over at Drew's table.

"I'm your boyfriend, remember?" Carter winked.

Calypso looked at him in disgust. "Since Piper isn't being clear enough, I'll get straight to the point. Move it, oversized jock with a big ego."

Carter stared at her. "I don't have a big ego."

Calypso scowled at him. "Can you just leave already?"

Carter laughed. "Fine, fine." He went back to Drew's table.

After a few moments of eating in silence, I stood up. My friends all stared at me.

"I'm going to invite Paris to go to Park Scare with us," I explained.

They all nodded and kept eating, but Annabeth still looked at me as if I had grown a second head that had green hair.

"Are you insane?" Annabeth said. "Paris is eating at Drew's table, and if you go over there, Drew will know something's up."

"Don't worry," I assured her. "I got it all figured out."

She still looked at me as if I had a second head, but this one didn't have green hair.

I picked up my tray and walked over to the garbage can. Drew's table was on the way to the garbage can, so I quickly tapped Paris' back, dumped my tray, and slowly headed to the bathroom. Hopefully, she knew I had tapped her and followed me to the bathroom.

"Um, guys," I heard Paris say. "I'm going to go to the restroom."

Perfect.

Once I was inside, I waited for a few seconds, and Paris came in.

"You tapped on my back?" Paris said.

I nodded. "I want you to come to Park Scare with me, Annabeth, Hazel, Calypso, Juniper, and my cousin like sister, Lacy, for her birthday."

"Sounds good," Paris said. "And one thing. Isn't your dad Tristan McLean?"

I stared at her. How did she know?

"I overheard Leo and Jason saying something about it," Paris said, asi if she could read my mind.

I nodded, mutely. Why wasn't she freaking out?

"Trust me," Paris said. "I'm not being your friend, just to know your dad. But anyway, why aren't you telling the whole school? Everyone would worship you, even Drew."

"That's the thing," I finally spoke up. "I don't want everyone to worship me. I don't want people to be my friend just so they can get my dad's autograph, or claim they know him. I don't want that."

Paris nodded. "I guess that makes sense, now that you put it like that. I don't like people being friends with me just to get to know my brother."

I knit my eyebrows together. "Who's your brother?"

Paris sighed, like she was ashamed. "Dylan."

I gawked at her. "Dylan? Dylan who almost beat me and Annabeth up? Dylan who Jason got into a fight with? Dylan who everyone wants to date, but I don't get why because he's a jerk? Dylan who fails almost every class and was held back twice? That Dylan?"

"Unfortunately." Paris sighed again. "And I'm really sorry about him almost beating you guys up. He's a jerk, even to me. He's the worst brother ever. But it makes sense, because he's actually my step brother. We're not blood related."

Then, I remembered something. I remembered that Drew might have been cheating on Jason with Dylan. "Does Drew hang out with Dylan a lot?"

"Yeah," Paris said. "Why?"

I opened my mouth to tell her that I thought Drew might have been cheating on Jason with Dylan, but an ear piercing screech came out of nowhere.

"Paris?" Drew called. By the sound of her voice, she was very close to the bathroom. "Paris? It doesn't take that long to pee, does it?"

My eyes widened and I dashed into one of the stalls to hide.

Paris rushed to the sink and turned the water on. "I'm washing my hands. I just, um, had a lot of extra pee, you know. Because I drink lots of water because, um, I need to stay hydrated."

"You didn't drink that much water today," Drew said, suspiciously. Her voice was inside the bathroom. "I didn't see you drink that much water."

"I drank a lot, though," Paris said, turning off the water. "This morning. And other times when I wasn't with you."

I could imagine Drew eyeing her with disgust. "Whatever. Let's go."

I held my breath as their footsteps left the bathroom.

That was a close one.

I got into my car and shut the door. Annabeth was sitting next to me, and Hazel, Calypso, and Paris sat in the back. Hazel had asked her dad to go right after the bell rang after last period. He said yes, but she had to be home by eleven, which is a pretty late curfew for a school night.

"We're going to pick up Lacy before we go to my house," I declared. I turned the engine on and started backing out of the school's parking lot. "Then we're going to go Park Scare."

"Where is she going to sit?" Hazel asked, reasonably.

I shrugged. "On one of your laps."

"Not mine please," Paris said. "She barely knows me."

"She can sit on my lap," Calypso offered.

Annabeth smirked. "Better hope we don't get caught by the cops."

"I'll just pretend I didn't know people can't sit on other people's laps in a car," I said, innocently.

Annabeth snorted. "Like that's going to work."

Out of the blue, Paris let out a huge squeal. "I just remembered something!"

"What?" Annabeth and I said at the same time Hazel said, "Hmm?" and Calypso stared at Paris expectantly.

"So everyone here knows that we're planning to make a video to ruin Drew's social life for good, right?" Paris said, boucing her legs up and down, excitedly.

Hazel and Calypso shook their heads.

"They do now," Annabeth said.

I kept my eyes on the road, but also listened to the conversation.

"Yeah," Paris said. "Well me and Piper have been-"

Annabeth cleared her throat loudly.

"Right." Paris rolled her eyes. "Me, Piper, and _Annabeth_ have been recording Drew whenever she's being a total bitch."

"We don't swear in this car, young lady," I mimicked the voice of a responsible parent.

Paris gave me a playful glare and went back to her story. "Anyway, we're going to put all the videos into one video and show everyone at school. They're all going to hate her for being such an abusive, sassy, cheating" She paused and looked at me meanigfully before she stopped herself from swearing. "a-hole. So far, we've got, like, almost ten videos."

"It's about time someone did something like this," Annabeth said. "We've gotta put Queen Drama Alert out of reign."

"I think this is an awesome idea." Hazel bobbed her head up and down making her curly hair bounce.

"Too bad we weren't informed sooner." Calypso put her hand to her heart, prentending to be offended.

I snorted and stopped at a red light. "Sorry. We would've told you sooner, but we kind of forgot about it. But if any of you guys catch Drew being an abusive, sassy, cheating a-hole," I looked over at Paris as I mocked her words, "then be sure to record it."

"Definitely," Calypso said. "I'm not a big fan of hanging around when Queen Drama Alert is excecuting someone, but I will from now until our video project is finished."

The red light turned green, and I pressed the pedal. "Let's call it Project Ruin an Abusive Sassy Cheating A-hole's Life."

Annabeth's eyes lit up, and I could almost see a lightbulb appear above her head. "Project RASCAL!"

"That's perfect!" Paris squealed. "Afterall, she is one heck of a rascal."

"One heck of a rascal she is," I agreed, making a right turn.

"She's also a whore," Paris mused aloud. "We should've added that into the acronym."

"Then it wouldn't be RASCAL anymore," Hazel pointed out.

"It could be Project Whorey RASCAL." Paris giggled.

"Then it would be too obvious," Annabeth said. "Everyone knows Drew is a whore, even herself."

"She just would never own it," Calypso said, shaking her head.

It was silent for a few minutes. In the rearview mirror, I could see Paris biting her lip like she was nervous. Then, she opened her mouth, but nothing came out, so she closed it. She opened it again, and then closed it again.

This went on for a few times, until Annabeth finally said, "Paris, just say what you gotta say, or don't. you look like a fish."

Calypso laughed in a friendly way. "Don't worry, Paris, it's very attractive."

Paris smiled at her, then looked at me. "I just don't really want to be too naggy about this, or you might judge me."

"Well, it's just that I really want Tristan McLean's autograph." Paris looked down at her feet. "I'm a fan." She paused and added, "Don't worry, I'm not, like, a crazy fangirl or anything."

I gave her a reassuring grin. "Yeah, we could get you an autograph. My dad's going to be home tonight, so you guys can just stick around until about ten. Or you guys can sleepover."

Paris beamed and Hazel sighed.

"I can't," Hazel said. "My dad won't let me sleepover on weekdays. And he wants me home by eleven."

"I can, obviously," Annabeth said. "I practically live and Piper's house."

"Me too," Calypso said. "I don't have any tests or anything tomorrow, so I can party all night." She smiled to herself at the last part.

Paris nodded. "I think my parents would be pretty cool. It might raise suspicion from Drew though, why I'm going on your bus to school tomorrow."

"Just say you were over at your aunt's house." Annabeth shrugged. "And it's not like Drew controls your life. It's none of her business."

"Right." Paris looked distracted. "Of course Drew doesn't control my life."

To avoid another awkward silence, I spoke up. "If any of you need to change to go to Park Scare, you can use some of my clothes."

"Nope, I'm good." Annabeth was wearing faded ripped jeans, a plain black T-shirt, and gray Converse.

"Me too," Hazel said. She was wearing a purple tank which she tucked into her high-waisted black jeans.

"I think I'm pretty good too." Calypso was wearing a light blue crew neck sweater from Hollister and white jean shorts with black flats.

"I think I may need to change," Paris said, sheepishly.

I took a look at her, and gods, she definitely needed to change. I hadn't noticed her outfit all day, except that she was kind of fancy. She was wearing a knee length white tulle dress with a diamond studded collarbone and a black bow around her waist. Her hair was up into a pretty bun, with her side bangs down, framing her face. Her feet were covered with black ankle boots.

"Yeah, you do," I said. "But why are you dressed all fancy today?"

Paris sighed. "Haven't you noticed?"

I shook my head.

"Drew wants us to kind of be like Regina George and her clones from Mean Girls. You know how every Wednesday, they wear pink?"

All of us nodded.

"Well Drew wants us all to dress fancy on Tuesdays."

Now that I thought about it, I guess Drew and her Dreweys did dress all fancy one day every week. I never knew it was like a planned out thing though.

I turned onto the street of Lacy's school.

"I can go get Lacy," Annabeth offered, already unbuckling her seatbelt.

I turned into the parking lot, parked the car, and stopped the engine. I turned to Annabeth. "Out you go."

This was it. Lacy was going to have the best birthday of her life.

We were almost to Park Scare now. I was driving, Annabeth was sitting next to me and Lacy was on Calypso's lap. Hazel was sitting next to them, and Paris was sitting next to Hazel, dressed in my gray joggers, floral cropped top that I almost never wear, and my white Converse.

"Can I take the blindfold off _now_?" Lacy asked, impatiently.

I had asked Calypso to put a blindfold on Lacy about five minutes ago, so she wouldn't see me turn onto the exit that led to Park Scare.

"Nope," I replied. "We're not there yet."

"Are you sure it's going to be worth the wait?" Lacy asked.

I laughed. "Of course it is, Lace. You love this place."

"Is it Disney?" Lacy guessed.

Nobody said anything. I had told them earlier not to say anything if Lacy started to guess.

"Sea World?" Lacy tried.

Silence.

I sighed. "We're not going to tell you until we get there."

"Then drive faster," Lacy urged. "When are we going to get there?"

"In about five minutes," I assured her.

"Let's talk to pass time while that," Annabeth suggested. "Lacy, how was your day at school?"

"It was great!" Lacy said. "I think a lot of the kids were jealous of my floral birthday dress and jean vest. Especially Emily Tanaka."

I almost slammed on the brakes when I heard Drew's last name. I could feel all my friends exchange glances.

"Does Emily have a sister by any chance?" Annabeth asked, casually.

"No," Lacy said. "But she does live with some of her cousins on her dad's side of the family."

"Her cousins?" Annabeth repeated.

"Yeah," Lacy said.

"What are her cousins' names?" Paris asked, slowly.

Lacy tapped her chin. "Emily talks about them all the time, so I remember most of their names. There's Jessica, Lexi, Jake, Virginia, Kelsy, Anna…" She tilted her head to the side, thinking. "The twins; Victor and Victoria, James, Aidan, Fiona, Wesley, Drew, Tate-"

"Back it up," Paris interrupted. We were all thinking of what she was thinking. "Drew?"

Lacy nodded towards the direction of Paris' voice. "Yeah, Drew. Like the mean girl who goes to your school. Hey… Now that I think about it, Emily does look a lot like Mean Drew, but just not enough to be sisters. Is Mean Drew's last name Tanaka by any chance? Because that's what Emily's cousin's name is."

"Yes," I said, nodding. "It is. But if Emily lives with so many of her cousins, that means that Drew lives with them too. But why would Drew live with so many of her cousins?"

Annabeth snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

"What?" Hazel said.

"What's it?" Calypso said.

"Drew isn't any richer than Piper," Annabeth explained. "There's just no way. She just pretends she is because she's got a bigger house than Piper. I should've thought of this sooner, but Drew and her first cousins, maybe even second cousins, bought the house _together. _It wasn't just Drew and her so called 'rich' parents, but her aunts and uncles also chipped in."

"Do you know what this means?" Paris said, excitedly.. "Drew is fake! She's always wanted to be better than Piper, that's why she pretends she's rich. Piper doesn't give a shit-"

"Language," I said.

"About what people think about her," Paris continued. "About how popular she is, or how much attention she gets. That's what makes her better than Drew. Piper is always going to be better than Drew, and Drew knows that, but the rest of the school doesn't. We need to tell them!"

"We don't have proof," I said.

"I can get proof!" Lacy said. "I can use my iPod to record what Emily says about her family."

I smiled and turned into one of the many parking lots of Park Scare. "Thanks, Lace."

Lacy beamed. "Are we there yet?"

"I'm trying to find a place to park," I said, driving around the parking lot to look for an empty space.

"There!" Hazel pointed to parking spot.

"Oooh," Annabeth said, as I turned into the space. "This is a good spot. We don't have to walk too far to get into the entrance from here."

"The entrance of what?" Lacy said, trying to get one of us to blurt out the surprise.

Paris almost did.

"P-" She stopped herself. "Nice try, little lady. You're not going to get anything out of me."

"I got a 'P' out of you," Lacy said.

I stopped the engine. "Don't worry, Lace. You can open your blindfold after we buy our tickets."

Lacy groaned.

I opened the door and got out on the left side of the car. Annabeth opened her door and got out on the right. Hazel and Paris also got off on the right, and Calypso helped Lacy out on the left.

"I can hear the sounds of joyful screams," Lacy noted, as we walked to the entrance, while I held her hand. "I also smell food." She took a big sniff. "Lots of food."

We got to the entrance.

"Guys," I said to Calypso, Hazel, and Paris. "Can you keep and eye on Lacy near this bench, while Annabeth and I go pay for tickets?"

Calypso nodded. "Sure thing."

Annabeth and I walked over to the ticket booth. The line wasn't particularly long, because it was a weekday. It only took about five minutes to get through.

"Five junior tickets," I said when we got to the front of the line. "And one kid ticket."

"You're going to get a friends and family discount," the grumpy guy behind the counter said, in a bored tone. He looked like he was in his thirties and was dressed as a happy pumpkin, but he didn't look so happy about it. "Your total is one hundred ninety-five."

I handed him my credit card and he swiped it. He gave us the tickets, told us to go away, and in a lame voice, he called out, "Next!"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Annabeth muttered to me as we walked towards the bench.

I snorted and handed tickets to each person.

"Here's your ticket," I said to Lacy. "You can take off your blindfold now."

Lacy took it off quickly and handed it to me so I could put it in my backpack.

"Park Scare!" she screamed. "I love this place! This is the best place ever! Thank you, Piper, thank you!" She jumped up and down and hugged me. Then, she checked the time. "Come on, guys, it's 3:45! What are we waiting for? Let's go have fun!"

After going through the ticket line, we took a map and studied it.

"Let's go on the Wild Ride first!" Lacy exclaimed.

The Wild Ride was basically one of the most scariest ride at Park Scare. It starts by going up slowly to more than two hundred feet high, then drops you like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, the first time I went on the Wild Ride, I literally thought there was going to be no tomorrow.

After the big drop, there's a bunch of twists and turns and other drops. It takes your breath away and it makes you scream the whole time. It goes up to about seventy-five miles per hour and it's really scary.

Calypso looked at Lacy like she was going to puke, even though she hadn't been on yet. "No, thanks. You guys go ahead. I can sit out on this one."

She walked with us to the Wild Ride, but sat on a bench near the line when we got there.

The line wasn't too long, because most people had just gotten out of school and didn't come this early, so it only took seven minutes.

Lacy and I sat next to each other near the end of the train. Annabeth and Hazel sat behind us, and Paris sat behind them, by herself.

I put on my seatbelt, then helped Lacy. It was one of those things that go over your head.

I squeezed Lacy's hand. "Are you ready?"

Lacy nodded, excitedly, but nervously.

After the whole speech about keeping your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, the train started to move. It went up slowly. Going up slowly was definitely building all the suspense. And what was horrible about sitting near the back, was that you wouldn't be able to seewhere the drop was, so it would catch you by surprise.

Lacy squirmed around nervously. "How long until the drop comes?"

"I'm suspecting about twenty more seconds." I could hear my voice shake.

"You okay?" I heard Annabeth's voice from behind us.

"I'm good," I said. I was pretty nervous, but I loved rollercoaster.

"I'm not okay," Hazel said. "I'm pretty freaked."

I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for myself to fall.

"Lacy, I really hope you enjoy this, because-AHHHHHHHHHH!" My birthday speech got lost in the wind as my body fell, but my stomach swooped up into the air.

I screamed and kept my eyes closed as I felt myself zooming down towards the ground.

"EEEEEP!" Lacy's scream was more like a squeal of surprise, which turned into whoops of laughter.

"ARGHHH!" Annabeth's voice was loud and clear. She didn't seem terrified, just a little annoyed that the drop had come soon.

I didn't hear anything come out of Hazel, so I was a little afraid she had fallen off, but that was just how I think when I'm excited, scared, happy, and surprised all at the same time.

Paris was definitely having fun on the drop. She was screaming, "YEAAHHHH, BABYYYYY!"

When the drop stopped, I finally opened my eyes to see that we were jerking a left, and then a right. We went up, and then all of a sudden things were upside-down and I felt like I was going to fall.

"AM I UPSIDE-DOOOOOOWN?" I shouted at no one in particular.

It was Annabeth's voice that came back. "YES, WE'RE IN A LOOOOOOP!"

"A VERY LAAAAARGE ONE!" I noted, as we were back to normal, still going at seventy-five miles per hour.

After a few more jerks and twists, everything went dark, and at first I thought I had passed out, but then I realized we were in a tunnel. Because it was Park Scare and not Park Fair, they had decorated the tunnel with glowing ghosts and vampires. They were 3D and looked pretty convincing, except for the fact that they were cartoons.

"SMILE FOR THE CAMERAAAA!" Paris yelled. The camera was usually right at the end of the tunnel.

We made a left turn, and then I could see the light from outside. Right at the very end of the tunnel, when we were about to exit the tunnel, I grinned, and the light flashed.

When the ride was over, Lacy and I sat there, catching our breath. Up until now, I hadn't realized that I was holding Lacy's hand the whole time.

"How was the ride?" I asked, getting out.

"It was awesome!" Lacy cheered.

Hazel shuddered. "Horrifying would be my word."

"I think it was kickass!" Paris shouted.

"You have a problem with cursing, don't you?" I smirked.

"Hello?" Lacy said. "There's a nine, I mean ten year old standing right here!"

We all laughed and walked over to the place that sold our pictures. We bought keychains for each of us, and then skipped off to see Calypso. Best. Day. Ever. Well, best day besides the day of me and Jason's date, and the day of our kiss, but still, today was a pretty great day.

"This is the best birthday ever!" Lacy cried, hugging her fluffy unicorn from Despicable Me. She had won that as a prize on a game that you had to knock down the spaceship, just like in Despicable Me. Except here, the spaceship was a pumpkin spaceship and there was a graveyard background.

It was almost six, and we had gone on three rides, ate some cotton candy, and played a few games. After the last game, Lacy said that she was hungry, and we were looking for a place to eat.

"Let's go to Panda Express," Annabeth suggested, as we got close to it.

"I love Panda Express," I said. "There's a pretty long line, though."

"You guys can go ahead and eat at Panda Express," Paris said. "I'm going to Chipotle."

"Me too!" Lacy squealed, squeezing the life out of her unicorn.

"I'll come with," Hazel said.

Calypso looked around, and her eyes landed on something. She licked her lips. "Hawaiian Barbeque. I'm going there."

"Okay." I motioned them to go get their food. I pointed to the table near the fountain in the middle of the food court. "Meet us at that table, and we can eat there."

They nodded and left to get their food.

"I'm going to get two entrees and a side," Annabeth announced, already scanning the glowing menu, hovering above the workers' heads. "Grilled teriyaki chicken, honey walnut shrimp, and a side of beef chow mein. And pink lemonade."

I wrinkled my nose at the amount of meat she ordered. "I'll just get an entree of eggplant tofu with a side of fried rice, and also pink lemonade."

Annabeth slapped my arm playfully. "Copycat."

A few minutes later, we recieved and payed for out food.

"Thank you," I said to the guy behind the counter, taking my tray.

"What she said," Annabeth said, also taking her tray.

I snorted. "Be nice."

"I'm not nice," Annabeth pointed out.

We started walking towards our table. Calypso was already there, and so was Paris.

"Hazel and Lacy are finishing up their orders," Paris told us.

"I already finished my order," Calypso said, stating the obvious as she dove into her pork.

Annabeth and I sat down across from Hazel and Calypso. A few minutes later, I heard a gasp come from Annabeth.

"What?" I whirled around in circles, trying to see what she was staring at. Her mouth was wide open in shock.

"That son of a serpant," Annabeth muttered, murderously.

"What?" I said, more urgently this time.

"Piper," she said, gently. "Because I am your best friend, I am going to tell you not to look to your right. Please. I'll tell you about it later, but I don't want you to see it."

Calypso and Hazel looked over to their left, which was my right, and they gasped and glared at whatever was there.

Being the normal person I am, I looked to my right and almost collapsed as I took in the scenario.

There, at a table on the right, there were two people making out. And not just any two people. Drew Tanaka and Jason Grace.

"No," I whispered. I felt my eyes start tearing up. There was a lump in my throat and a burning sensation in my stomach. My heart felt like there was a fist closed around it.

At first, I was just plain confused. I didn't understand. Jason had just taken me on a date on Saturday and just kissed me yesterday. Twice. And he also said that he liked me a lot, that he was stupid to date Drew. What was his problem? Was he bipolar?

Then the sadness and hurt started to kick in. I mean, I knew that whenever Drew and Jason broke up, they always got right back together, within a week or two. But this time, I thought it would be different. This time, I was in the picture. I thought that Jason actually had feelings for me, but maybe he just used me as a way to pass the time while he waited for Drew to come back to him. I was so naiive.

Tears were threatening to spill out of my eyes, so I wiped at them with my arm.

"It's okay." Annabeth's voice was soothing, but her jaw was clenched. "Drew's an idiot. Jason's an idiot."

_But he was my idiot,_ I wanted to say. _But apparently he's Drew's idiot now. _And that was when I basically just broke down.

Hot tears started streaming down my face. My brain and stomach had a mix of emotions in them. This was not fair. So not fair.

"It's okay, Piper," Annabeth said, rubbing my back. "We can go home now if you want."

"No," I choked out. "I can't ruin Lacy's perfect day because of my stupid issues. Please don't tell her about this. She will want to go home because of me."

"Your issues aren't stupid," Calypso said, through gritted teeth. "I had issues just like this one. So your issues aren't stupid. But he is."

I don't know why, but I just kept looking at them while they were kissing. It was like part of my mind couldn't believe this was happening and wanted to prove reality wrong.

As I stared at them, anger boiled inside of me. Regret was circling my head. The more and more I heard people laughing and talking around me, the more I just wanted to leap into my bed and hide there until the world ended.

During their kiss, Jason's eye opened, and he accidently made eye contact with me. His eye widened and he pulled away from Drew. Drew didn't look at all surprised that Jason had done that. In fact, she looked me right in the eye and gave me a smirk and a smug wave.

Jason got up from his seat, quickly, and started walking fast towards our table.

"Piper," Jason said when he reached us. "I can explain. I-"

"I have to go," I interrupted with a huge sob. I pushed my chair back and started to run.

Jason grabbed my wrist. "Piper, please." His face was filled with pain, but he had no idea what I was feeling.

I yanked my wrist out of his grasp and ran. I honestly had no idea where I was running, but I had to get away.

"I needed to explain," I heard Jason insist to my friends.

"Explain this," Annabeth growled.

I turned around for just a second to see what was going on. Jason was drenched in Annabeth's pink lemonade, and ice cubes were melting by his feet.

"Jason, I really think you should go." Hazel bit her lip.

"But I need to tell her-" Jason said.

"You've said enough," Calypso cut him off. "Go."

I turned back around and ran behind an arcade game. I sat down hugged my knees, and cried. I cried harder than I had ever cried before. I actually almost never cry. The only time I cry is when I cry hard. And as far as I know, no one has ever made me cry this hard.

It might seem weird to you, I was fifteen with my first heartbreak. Most people get their first heaertbreak when they're in middle school. But me, I've always managed to stay away from the drama of being in a relationship, then breaking up.

As of today, I had still never been in a relationship. Jason had never properly asked me to be his girlfriend, which I had hoped would happen today. but I still felt the same pain and regret as any heartbroken girlfriend would feel.

After crying for a few minutes, I got a text from Annabeth.

I'm so sorry :( btw, Paris got back w/ Lacy and I told Paris everything. Don't worry, I made sure Lacy was busy so that she couldn't hear. Also, in case you didn't see, I dumped my lemonade all over that cold hearted jerk, if it makes you feel any better. His hair is going to be sticky for the rest of the day until he showers :)

Btw Lace is starting to wonder where you are. You should go wash your face, cool down, and come back before she suspects something. Love you 3

I gave my phone a watery smile. She always managed to cheer me up, even if it's a pretty aggresive way, like dumping pink lemonade over a cold-hearted jerk.

I stood up and walked over to the nearest bathroom and I found Drew waiting in there alone, like she had been expecting me. As far as I knew, she shooed everyone out by blackmailing them, like she does to everyone.

Drew hadn't seen me yet. She was too busy fixing her hair in the mirror. While she did that, I took out my phone and pressed the 'record' button.

I was pissed off at her. I knew I was pretty hurt and really sad right now, but I was still definitely in the mood to ruin her life.

I cleared my throat.

Drew whipped around and gave me a wicked grin. I swear I saw fangs. "Well, well, well. Look who's here." She sounded like a Disney villain.

"What do you want?" I said.

"I want you to know that Jason is now my property," Drew snarled. "Get your grubby hands off him."

"Have you forgotten that _you're_ the one who broke up with him?" I said, louder than normal so that my phone could hear it loud and clear.

"No, I haven't," Drew said. "But I can toy with him all I want, McLean. He's never going to break up with me."

"I suppose you've been blackmailing him," I said. "Like you do to every other person."

Drew sneered at me. "Please. I would never."

"Whatever," I said, pushing past her to get to one of the sinks. "Get out of my life."

"If you stay out of Jason's," Drew said.

"Oh, trust me." I gritted my teeth. "I was planning to anyway."

Drew's mouth twitched into a merciless smile. "That's a good girl." She left the bathroom, I turned off my recorder, and sent the video to Paris.

That girl really needed to learn some manners.

On the way home, my phone would not stop ringing. It was seriously annoying hearing the bridge and chorus of You Belong With Me sixteen times in a row.

After a full minute of silence… _Cuz she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts. She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers…_ Without even looking, I knew it was Jason.

All of us groaned.

"Why does your phone keep ringing?" Lacy asked, an annoyed edge to her voice.

"Someone keeps calling her." Paris rolled her eyes.

"You should pick up," Hazel said. "Give him a chance to explain?"

Annabeth pretty much exploded. "A chance to explain? Are you kidding me, Hazel? He did what he did, and it doesn't matter why he did it. He doesn't deserve a chance."

"Who?" Lacy asked, curiously.

"Erm," Calypso said. "Frank."

"Frank Zhang?" Lacy stared at Calypso. "What'd he do to not deserve a chance?"

"He, um, he cheated," Calypso said quickly. "On a math test."

Lacy gasped. "No."

Calypso nodded. "Yes."

I turned into Hazel's driveway and turned off the engine. "Out you go, Hazel."

Hazel opened the car door. "Bye, guys! See you tomorrow! And Piper, don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. Just hang in there."

I gave her a weak smile and nodded.

_Just hang in there, Piper. Just hang in there. _

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Lacy. Happy birthday to you!"

My parents, me, Calypso, Paris, and Annabeth were all singing 'Happy Birthday' to Lacy. Paris had just gotten an autographed picture with my dad and I, and she was really happy about it.

It was almost eleven, but everyone was still wide awake, except for Lacy. She was just staring at her cake with her eyes half opened. I think her mind was excited, but her body was telling her otherwise.

Lacy muttered something under her breath, most likely a wish, and blew out the candles.

"Yay," she said, with a lazy grin. "I blew out all of them."

I smiled at her and started to cut the cake. "Are you tired, Lace?"

She nodded. "But maybe I could use a little piece of cake."

I cut out a piece of cake with a big pink flower on it and gave it to Lacy. "Is this piece good enough for you?"

Lacy nodded. "I love it." She picked up her spoon, licked her lips, and started chowing down.

When everyone was eating, mom and dad gave Lacy a birthday present, which was a heart locket made of sterling silver and diamonds. Lacy loved it, obviously, it was another locket to add to her collection of sixteen other ones. Each and every one of her lockets were different. Some were pretty similar, but none were exactly the same.

Lacy went to brush her teeth, and about a minute after I tucked her in, she was out like a light. She was probably really tired, considering it was 11:30.

My friends and I brushed our teeth right after Lacy went to bed, changed into more comfortable clothes (which were all my clothes), and now we were in my room talking about our very eventful day.

"I still can't believe the nerve of that stupid jerk," Annabeth said, flopping on to my bed.

"I know." Calypso nodded as she went to sit with her legs crossed on her white sleeping bag. I had a few spare sleeping bags in my room just in case my friends or Lacy's friends slept over on a short notice. I pulled them out for Calypso, Paris, and Annabeth.

"Douche." Paris sat on her baby pink sleeping bag, her arms hugging her knees.

"I just thought that he actually liked me." I was playing with the hem of my white tank. "I guess he's just still into Drew."

Calypso opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by a tapping noise that came from outside.

Annabeth straightened up and she looked at me. We both new what that noise was.

"Stay out of view," Annabeth told me. Then, she muttered, "Gods, that boy will not stop trying." She grapped the notepad from under my bed and scribbled furiously. Then, she opened my curtains and held the notepad up.

Go away, no one wants to talk to you. And by the way, YOU'RE A JERK

"You guys talk to each other with notepads?" Paris said.

I nodded.

"I knew that," Calypso said, her eyes shining. "But I've never witnessed it. This is gonna be so good."

I was able to see Jason, but from where I was sitting, he couldn't see me. His shoulders drooped. He grabbed a Sharpie and wrote on his notepad.

I just need to explain.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Not going to work, buddy boy."

Piper doesn't need any of your excuses. You can't just use her to pass the time while you and Drew weren't together. Piper is not a toy.

Jason's winced. I really wanted to shout out at Annabeth to tell him that I forgave him, that it was okay. But I don't think Annabeth would ever let me do that. She was good at holding grudges, but however, I was not.

Jason wrote a simple sentence on his notepad.

Please, just let me talk to her.

Annabeth sighed in exasperation and handed me the notepad. "The idiot wants to talk to you, Piper."

"I can't." I shook my head. "I'm going to forgive him just like that." I snapped my fingers to show Annabeth how fast it would take me to forgive Jason.

"We'll help you," Calypso said, nodding encouragingly.

I grabbed the notepad from Annabeth. "Okay." Then, I sat on the bed, and looked out my window at Jason. He smiled with relief.

Oh good, you're here. I thought Annabeth wouldn't let you talk to me. Haha

Annabeth sneered. "He actually thinks you're on talking terms with him? Please. Piper, you're not that optimistic."

I nodded. Okay, sure, I was a little optimistic, but with Annabeth and everyone by my side, I probably wouldn't be allowed to give in.

I really have nothing to say to you, Jason.

Jason's eyes were suddenly very pleading, and I think alarmed because he realized I was giving him a cold shoulder.

Pipes, please, you gotta know my explanation. Please.

I looked at Annabeth, unsure of what to say.

"Don't give in to his little puppy face," Annabeth advised. "Percy does those all the time. Never works on me."

I don't need to know your stupid explanation to know that you don't like me. Just stay out of my life. It would be better for both of us. As well as your girlfriend. Goodbye Jason.

Tears ran down my face as I wrote that last note. I cried even harder when I had to hold it up and show Jason. His face was blank. He was shocked.

We had been best friends since the age of three. And now, all that was lost. But his face told me that he knew he couldn't blame it on me. This was all his fault. He kissed me. Then he dated Drew. This was not on me. Yet I was crying.

Jason shook his head in disbelief. Annabeth gave him one last glare, and shut the curtains.

Paris came over and hugged me. "It's okay, Piper. Guys are decieving people. It's really horrible."

"That's right," Calypso agreed. "That's why from now on, I'm not going to get attached to any guy."

I my sobs vibrated through my whole body making my shoulders shake, and there was a lump in my throat. I've never cried as much as I had this whole day.

Everytime I did cry in the past, Jason would always be there. I would call him, he'd come to my house, order pizza, and make me feel better. This time, I didn't have Jason's shoulder to cry on, because he was the one who made me cry.

Then, my phone rang.

"It's probably that doofus again," Annabeth growled.

"Hello?" I said into my phone, tearily.

"'Sup, Beauty Queen?" It was Leo. "How was Lacy's surpri- Oh, wait. You don't sound okay… So, are you okay?"

I sniffed. "I'm fine, Leo."

Leo's voice got serious. "Piper, I know something's up. Tell me."

"It was Jason," I said.

"What? Jason? What'd he do?"

"So you know how we kissed yesterday right?" I said.

"What?" Leo's voice blasted through the phone. "No! For your information, I did not know that! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I meant to," I said, truthfully. "But that's not the point. I saw his tongue down Drew's throat today."

"Shit!" Leo said. "No! Jason wouldn't do that."

"Well he did," I said.

"Piper, I hope you're okay."

"I'll try to be," I assured him.

"I'm gonna head to bed now, okay?" Leo said, his voice gentle. "Call me if you need anything, and talk to me at school. Goodnight Pipes. Love ya."

"Love you too," I said, trying to smile. "Night." I turned off the phone.

Annabeth looked at me sympathetically. "We should sleep now. To get ready for school tomorrow."

I nodded.

I should've known today would be off. Whenever I have hope in something, Drew manages to kill it.

What do they say again?

Expect the unexpected.

* * *

**Whew! *swipes sweat from forehead* Rough day, huh?**

**SORRY MY AMAZING READERS FOR DOING THIS TO YOU! SOOOOORRRRRYYYY but aha, I was planning this all along. You weren't expected that, were you? SORRRY! **

**Well anyway, starting now, I'll probably be updating one every week hopefully? Idk, the range would be 1-3 weeks, depending how busy I am. Anyway, cheers! And don't cry too much, it'll be okay :(**


	23. Strange Stuff

**Yeyyyy! I updated! Enjoy :) and review please!**

**Chapter 22**

**Strange Stuff**

I didn't have such a great time trying to sleep.

It was around 2 a.m. and I kept staying awake, picturing Drew and Jason kissing. Drew sending me a smug smiling. The victorious look in her eyes. It was all still in my head.

Everything Jason had said to me was still in my head too. Every one of Jason's words echoed through my head.

_I think Drew is cheating on me._

_You can't just barge into other people's house without asking them, and you definitely don't call my friends 'Dumpster Girl'! You're just jealous of her!_

_Nobody tries to hurt Piper and gets away with it._

_I'd do anything to protect my friend._

_RAWR means "I love you" in dinosaur._

_Piper, I want to ask you out on a date._

_Anything for you._

_Your eyes are really pretty. And you don't try hard to look good. You don't need mountains of lipstick and tons of mascara to feel good about yourself. And your hair is just, wow... And your personality makes me always makes me happy and stuff like that. I always thought you were really pretty, Piper._

_Mocking is a sign of flattery._

_You were always cute, sweet, and funny. And you always will be._

_What I'm hearing is, that Leo can't touch your butt pocket, but I can?_

_Whoa, Pipes. You look... Wow. You look really wow. It's so... Wow._

_You're perfect, Piper McLean. Everything about you is perfect. Your eyes, your hair, the way you always smell like cinnamon, your personality… Everything, Piper. And I was stupid to not realize this before._

Did all those words mean nothing to him? Did all those stupid jokes, flustered phrases, and sweet compliments mean nothing? Were they all just lies? Was I just a pastime while he waited for Drew to come back to him?

"Go to sleep, Piper," a voice groaned.

I jerked in my bed, startled.

Paris was covered completely under her pink covers. She looked like a lump. If I didn't know any better, I would think she was a giant, pink, jellybean. She was definitely asleep.

Calypso was closing her eyes, snoring lightly, but sweetly. Either she was faking it, or she was actually asleep.

Annabeth, however, was sprawled out on my couch with a fuzzy teal blanket on top of her, staring at me with sleepy eyes.

"How did you know I was awake?" I whispered.

"You keep moving around," she informed me. "Also you were talking to yourself earlier. 'Mocking is a sign of flattery'? What's that supposed to mean?"

I gave myself a facepalm. "Exactly how much did you hear?"

She shrugged. "Don't really know. You were talking really quietly, but I could hear some words really loudly."

"Sorry for keeping you awake," I apologized.

"It's fine," Annabeth said, gently. "What were you thinking about? Or talking about?"

"Jason," I admitted. "He said so many sweet things to me. I can't really help but wonder if those words were all fake. If he was just using me to try to get over Drew."

Annabeth signed. "It doesn't matter. Whatever he did, he's still a jerk. Even if he did like you, he's still a jerk. Even if he still does like you now, he's still a jerk. Because you don't just re-date someone when you like someone else, especially when that someone else likes you back."

I nodded. "I'm pretty sure Jason did like me back. Unless he was lying."

Annabeth cocked her head to a side. "How do you know?"

"He said a lot of things that hinted me," I said. "Things like 'I always thought you were really pretty' and 'You're perfect' and that he was 'stupid to not realize it before.' It almost sounds like he's been liking me the whole time he was dating Drew."

"Huh."

It was silent for a minute, besides the sound of Paris moving around while she slept.

My eyes finally started to close.

"Drew better not find out."

I opened my eyes again. "What?"

"Drew shouldn't find out about the things that Jason said to you," Annabeth explained. "She wouldn't be happy if she found out Jason liked you all his life, even though he dated her."

I thought for a moment. "I think she does know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I think that she's obviously jealous of me," I pointed out. "She never wants me with Jason. She hates me. There wouldn't be any other reason for her not to like me."

"Actually there would," Annabeth said. "You're way nicer than her, not to mention smarter, more patient, less like a bi-"

"I get the point," I said, trying not to laugh and wake up the others.

"I just think that there may be a reason Jason is dating Drew," Annabeth said.

"Explain?" I said.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Okay, so before I get into this, I need you to know that I am not fond of Jason right now. Whatsoever. Even though I may be proving him innocent, he is still a jerk."

I nodded, urging her to go on.

"I think Drew is blackmailing Jason."

I blinked.

Drew could be blackmailing Jason? Her own boyfriend? No. She definitely always blackmails others, but blackmailing her boyfriend would be a little hard to believe.

"I don't get it," I said.

"Think about it." Annabeth tapped her temple, indicating me to think. "She blackmails everyone. And who would like a person like Drew? Drew is so, you know, unlikeable."

I snorted, a little louder than intended. "You never know. Anyone can like anyone."

"Well, not anyone who's as nice as Jason," Annabeth reasoned.

I raised my eyebrow. "I thought you said Jason was a jerk?"

"What he did was a jerk move," Annabeth said. "Even if Drew was blackmailing him. I'm not saying she did. But I'm saying she could've, knowing how she does things."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure." I pulled the blankets up to my neck and rolled onto my side. "I'm gonna go to sleep now. You know, put some thought into everything."

"Night," Annabeth whispered.

"Night," I whispered back.

I had a great sleep, up until I got up earlier than I wanted to.

It was five. I had only gotten three hours of good sleep. This was great. This was absolutely wonderful. The best thing ever. I probably had the loveliest purple bags under my eyes. Note the sarcasm.

I opened the drawer of my night table, stuck my hand inside, and blindly searched for my journal. My hand came across a piece of paper, and I tugged at it. Had a page fallen out of my journal?

I pulled it up to my face.

Nope. It was a folded up piece of paper. So, naturally, I unfolded it. It unfolded to be a large, blank piece of paper. I flipped it over. Nope, not blank.

Sprawled across the page in big, bold writing was RAWR 3. I sighed at the memory. It was that time when Annabeth and I told Jason about our Halloween idea through the window. And Jason said that 'RAWR' means 'I love you' in dinosaur.

I laughed bitterly and almost threw the piece of paper in the trash. But then, I thought better of it.

That piece of paper with one single word on it, a word that isn't even in the dictionary, gave me hope. Maybe Jason wasn't all that bad. Maybe Annabeth was right. Maybe, just maybe, I could use the paper on Jason one day. Maybe.

So, I folded it right back up, and stuck it in my drawer. Then, I got out my journal and began to write.

_October 25_

_Man, can that girl ruin my day._

_I thought that yesterday would be the bestest best day EVER. Turns out, I was pretty darn wrong._

_I took Lacy to the fair yesterday. It was a really great day and we had an awesome time. We went in a bunch of rides and played some games. Then, Annabeth and I went to a Panda Express stand to get food. Calypso, Paris, and Lacy were getting food someone else._

_When we made our way back to the table, we saw Jason. With Drew. They were kissing._

_I don't know if I overreacted or anything, but I pretty much started to bawl my eyes out. It sucked._

_I had to keep pretending that I was okay though, for Lacy. I wanted her to have the best day ever._

_Yeah, this was a pretty short entry. That's because I don't really have the words to describe what I'm feeling. I know, cheesy. Corny. But it's true._

_Well. Gotta go to school. Drew' going to tear my pride away today, in front of the whole school. Wish me luck._

_-Piper McLean_

"It's going to be fine," Annabeth whispered to me. "Just remember to ignore Jason. Ignore, ignore, ignore." She stood right by my side as we walked through the halls. People threw me dirty or sympathetic glances, depending on their social status.

"Never thought I'd hate my life so much," I whispered back.

"Don't say that."

"Oh, look, it's you." Drew and her clones made her way through the crowd, as people parted to make way for her. "I can't believe you had the nerve to show up today."

I clenched my jaw. "Well, I did."

She held up your phone. "Did you check Instagram? I posted a picture of Jason and I at Park Scare yesterday. Look." She read the caption. "'I finally won him back.'"

The picture was of the same exact moment I caught them kissing at the tables.

"That's disgusting," I retorted. "I don't want to see you shoving your tongue down that jerk's throat."

"But I guess you do make a great couple," Annabeth commented. I shot her a glare. What was she thinking?

Drew gave us a smug smile.

"I mean, after all, you both are heartless idiots," Annabeth added.

Drew' smile wavered. "You're not as tough as you think, Chase."

"I never said that I was," Annabeth shot back.

"Get out of my way, nerds," Drew huffed, walked away, and waved at her clique to follow her.

Paris stayed behind.

"Paris! Get over here!"

Paris winced. "Sorry," she whispered at me, before shuffling over to Drew.

When all the clones turned into the next hallway, Annabeth let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm glad that's over with."

"Me too," said a new voice. I turned around to see a big, goofy, crooked grin in my face.

"Hey, Leo," I said, with less energy than usual. Normally, Leo always gets me to have a smile on my face at the end of our conversation. This time, I don't think he can get me to smile.

"Beauty Queen," he said. He draped his arm around my shoulders. "How ya feeling?"

"Like a Dumpster Girl," I grumbled.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, Beauty Queen," Leo said. "I will give Jason a good, strict talking to."

"A beating would be nice too," I muttered.

"Hmm?" Leo looked at me.

"Nothing," I said. "I gotta get to class now."

Leo frowned and took his arm off my shoulder. "Hope you're okay."

I smiled and walked away.

When I got to homeroom, it was pretty quiet, with the exception of Coach Hedge's pen scribbling on a piece of paper. Jason hadn't gotten there yet, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't want to show his face to me after yesterday.

Right before the bell rang, Jason stumbled into the doorway and rushed to his seat right in front of me.

I stared at the back of his head for what seemed like forever, but was only three minutes. Then, he passed me a folded up note.

It landed on my table, three inches away from my hand. My fingertips itched to touch it and unfold it.

Just remember to ignore Jason, Annabeth had said. Ignore, ignore, ignore.

I flicked the note right back at him, without writing anything on it, or even reading it. It flew over his left shoulder and landed on his table.

Jason opened the note, and his shoulders dropped when he realized I hadn't written anything back.

I smiled, pleased with myself.

Throughout the whole day, I tried really hard not to talk to him. It worked. I hadn't uttered a single word at him. I was rather proud of myself, although I felt really guilty when I saw his hurt face.

But he deserved it, I reminded myself. He hurt me first, so isn't it fair now?

Surprisingly, Drew hadn't said anything to me either. Not even a sarcastic remark, or a pathetic insult. She sat with Jason at lunch, and she did shoot me a few winning glances.

I boarded the bus and plopped down in a gray seat, my backpack next to me. Hopefully, Jason would have football practice today because the homecoming game would be on Friday.

I was wrong.

Jason's eyes darted around looking for an empty seat. Not wanting to catch eye contact, I looked down.

Suddenly, I felt an uneven weight in my seat, and found Jason seating right next to me.

"This seat is taken." I glared at him.

Jason had an annoying, amused smile dancing on his face. "By who?"

"By me," I said. I patted my backpack next to me. "And my backpack. My backpack never betrays me or anything, so I like sitting next to it. Unlike someone." I looked at Jason accusingly.

"Listen Piper-"

"I don't need to hear your lame excuses," I cut him off.

"But I'm sorry." His eyes stared intensely into mine, almost begging me to forgive him. I actually almost expected him to get on his knees. "I care about you Piper. I care about you a lot."

My mouth opened, and I almost forgave him. But I clamped it shut again and shook my head.

"Piper," Jason said. "I really do care about you. And I'm sorry that I kissed you and went back to Drew-"

"Then why'd you do it?" I snapped. "In fact, why do you keep doing it? You break up with Drew, you get back together with her. Drew breaks up with you, you get back together. Aren't you sick of it?

"You're not really a couple anymore. You're just two people who make out for fun. None of you even actually care about one another during the period when you guys aren't together. And you give everyone mixed signals. When will you just give up? If you really loved her, you wouldn't go kissing me and get back together with her."

Jason's face turned red. "I just- it's- you know- it's complicated."

"You always say that," I grumbled.

Leo boarded the bus and sat across from us, next to a random girl. The bus started driving.

"Are you guys finally talking again?" he asked, excitedly.

"Well-" Jason said.

"No," I interrupted. "He barged into my seat."

Leo sighed. "Jason, man. What you did was so not cool."

"I know," Jason said.

"Why would you do that to our Pipes, huh? Were you not thinking?" He reached across the aisle and knocked on Jason's head. "Your noggin was definitely not working."

Jason swatted Leo's hand away.

"Move," I said, suddenly.

"What?" Jason said.

"I don't want to sit next to you," I said, coldly.

Jason stared at me. "But-"

"Jason," Leo warned. "Just move, okay? Give it some time."

Jason sighed and moved to the seat in front of me, next to a guy in my band class.

"He's a jerk, isn't he?" Leo grinned at me.

"Dude, I can hear you." I heard Jason's voice from the seat in front of me.

"I know you can," Leo said, sassily.

Jason stuck his head out from in front of me and looked at Leo.

"What?" Leo said.

Jason just clenched his jaw.

Annabeth opened the door to my house, soaked head to toe with water, and an irritated frown on her face.

"Whoa," I said, standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at her.. "What happened to you?"

"It's raining." She shut the door and kicked off her shoes. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"You know the way," I said, gesturing to the bathroom upstairs.

She nodded. "Get me some clothes."

"Yes, mother." I smiled sarcastically.

She cracked me a smile and went into the bathroom in my room.

I went down the stairs into the kitchen and grabbed two homemade peanut butter cookies from a plastic box. Then, I got a glass of milk and sat on a chair at the marble island in the middle of my kitchen.

Lacy would be at a friend's house today for some poster they were doing. I wouldn't need to pick her up until after dinner.

This was a pretty perfect day to eat cookies and milk. It was rainy and wet, and it was really cozy inside. The sound of the rain pattering on the house was really relaxing, and it matched my mood, too.

Gloomy, gray, confused...

The doorbell rang.

I sighed, slid out of my chair, and walked to the door. Who would be out in this rain right now?

Please don't be Jason. Please be the mailman or something.

I opened the door, and Jason stood there. His hair was wet and plastered to his forehead. His white shirt was almost completely wet, except for a few random spots.

I stared at him, and he stared back at me.

"You shouldn't be out there," I said, finally.

"Why not?"

"It's raining."

We kept staring.

"You shouldn't be out there," I repeated.

Jason gave me a small smile. "So what should I do?"

I bit my lip. "You should go back to your house."

"That would make me even more wet," Jason pointed out.

"Well you can't just stand there," I said, stubbornly.

"Why not?" he said.

"You'll get a cold," I muttered.

"I can't hear you."

"You'll get a cold," I said again, louder.

"So if I can't stand here and I can't go home..." Jason trailed off.

I knew what he was trying to do. He wanted to go into my house and talk to me. But he knew I didn't want to, and he also knew I still cared about his health. He was forcing me to let him in.

I sighed and opened the door wider, reluctantly. "You need to come in."

Jason gave me a grin and stepped in, dripping water onto the mat.

"Take off your shoes," I demanded.

He took off his shoes.

"Stay there," I said, running up the stairs and getting a towel from the towel cabinet in my parents' room. I could hear the shower still on in my room, and Annabeth humming quietly. When I came down, Jason was still standing by the door, dripping.

I stuck out my hand and gave him the towel. He wrapped it around himself and just looked at me like he was studying me.

"Come on." I gestured him to follow me. I went downstairs and sat him on the couch in front of the electric fireplace. It wasn't a real fireplace, it was just a really warm heater with fake and digital bright orange flames.

Jason hugged his knees, shivering. He was obviously cold. He also obviously had a cold.

"Stay here," I said. I went upstairs and got another glass milk. I warmed it up in the microwave. Then, I got two more peanut butter cookies. I made my way downstairs with Jason's glass of milk and his cookies and set it on the table in front of him. After that, I took another trip to get my milk and cookies.

Jason sniffed and smiled sheepishly. "I need a tissue."

"You have a cold," I said, accusingly.

"Sorry."

"Eat your cookies."

I got a tissue box out from the little shelf under the table and placed it next to his glass of milk.

"Thanks," Jason said.

I nodded and flopped on the couch about two feet away from him. I grabbed a blanket that was laying there and draped it on top of me.

Jason put down the glass of milk that he was drinking out of. "We need to talk. Please."

I remained quiet, but I kept my ears open.

"There's a reason I'm dating Drew again," Jason stated the obvious. "In fact, it's almost the same reason why I started going out with her in the first place. I just can't tell you the reason, and I'm doing it to protect you. I really am sorry."

I thought about what Annabeth had said earlier and what Jason was saying now. Was it possible? Was he actually blackmailed?

I scrunched up my face, thinking. What could she probably blackmailing him about? I knew Drew and I knew Jason. She would probably blackmail him about something he cares about. And Jason cared about a lot of things.

_I care about you, Piper. I care about you a lot_.

"You were blackmailed by Drew," I realized. I also realized that the thing he was blackmailed about was something about me, but I didn't say that.

He nodded and took a bite out of his cookie. "But I can't tell you about what. And you can't tell Drew you know."

"Of course," I said. "I'm not stupid."

The only sound now was the crackling of the fake flames, the rain pattering against the house, and the munching of cookies and sipping of

milk.

"So do you actually like Drew?" I asked, quietly.

Jason shrugged. "She's too demanding. She's kinda pretty, but not at all my type. I never actually liked her."

I was too chicken to ask him if he liked me, so I just ate the last bite of my cookie and drank the last of my milk.

I stood up, holding my empty glass. "Do you need me to bring anything up for you?"

He nodded and held out his empty glass. "Thank you."

I nodded mutely and went upstairs. I filled the glasses with water and put them in the sink. Then, I went downstairs and sat on the couch next to Jason.

"Does this mean you don't hate me anymore?" Jason asked.

I shrugged. Like Annabeth said, no matter what the reason was, it was still a jerk move. He could've just told me in the first place. It would be better than dating someone you don't love.

"PIPER!" I heard Annabeth's voice yell out. "I NEED SOME CLOTHES!"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"She's showering," I explained. "She was out in the rain too."

I ran upstairs and got Annabeth a pair of gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt. She put them on and smiled sweetly.

"Thanks!" she said, happily.

"Don't mention it," I said, rolling my eyes. "By the way, Jason's here."

Annabeth choked on the air. "What?"

I snorted. "That's what he said when you yelled out 'I need some clothes!'"

Annabeth glared at me. "Well, that's embarrassing. Anyway, why is he here? Didn't I tell him to stay away from you?"

"You did what?"

"Nothing," Annabeth said, quickly. "Why is he here?"

"Apologized," I said. "Turns out, he was blackmailed. Just like you thought. He didn't tell me what he was blackmailed about though."

"Still a jerk," Annabeth muttered.

I nodded. Annabeth sneezed.

I sighed. "You're sick, too."

"I'm not sick," Annabeth protested.

"You were out in the rain longer than Jason was," I said. "And he's got a cold."

Annabeth sneezed again in response.

"Great." I crossed my arms. "Now I need to take care of two sick babies."

"You're taking care of Jason?" Annabeth looked at me like a flower just sprouted out of my ear. "Why?"

I looked out the window and saw the rain still dropping down from the gray clouds. "Just until the rain stops. Then, I'll send him home."

An hour later, we were in the middle of watching Peter Pan and eating cookie dough ice cream in our home theater. It was still storming outside, and the sky was as dark as it would be at nine in the night.

"Isn't this usually what girls do?" Jason asked.

"Hmm?" I said, scooping a mouthful of ice cream into my mouth.

"Don't girls watch movies and eat ice cream after breakups?" Jason said.

"Yes," I said, thinking about our situation. Technically, I was going through a break up right? Well not really. But I guess it was a heartbreak. "Yes they do."

"Welcome to the girl world," Annabeth said, smirking.

I set down my bowl of ice cream. "What do you guys want for dinner? I can make some while you guys finish the movie."

"Breakfast," Annabeth replied, without taking her eyes off the screen.

"For dinner?" I said.

"Breakfast for dinner," Annabeth said.

I shrugged. "Okay. Jason?"

"That's fine," he said, looking at the screen.

I had watched this movie about a million times with Lacy, so I already memorized the whole script. If I wanted, I could actually play the movie in my head while cooking.

I set the third plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries on the kitchen island. Since there were only three of us, we didn't have to eat dinner on the dining table.

Annabeth and Jason wandered up while I was pouring orange juice into three glasses.

"Movie done?" I said, setting each glass by a plate.

"Yep," Jason said. "Need help?"

"I'm just about done," I said. "But thanks."

We all sat down and started eating.

"So are you just gonna keep dating Drew?" Annabeth said suddenly, shoving some eggs into her mouth.

"I kind of have to," Jason said. "To protect someone."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Who's that someone?"

Jason shook his head and took a sip of his orange juice. "I can't tell you. That's confidential information."

Annabeth scowled. "What Drew doesn't know can't kill her."

"Drew is pretty creepy," Jason said. "She finds out a lot of things from her minions. I mean, friends."

I ate a blueberry. "So she found this confidential information out from one of her minions?"

Jason nodded. "I think so."

"Do you know which one?" Annabeth said curiously.

"She wouldn't tell me," Jason said. "And I don't exactly care."

"I bet it was something Gwen made up," I said. "Or maybe someone like Miranda or Katie told her, wanting to spread some drama, and she was gullible enough to believe it, being the ditz she is."

"So how are things going with you and your fake boyfriend?" Jason asked, casually.

What? Fake boyfriend?

"What?" I said.

"Carter? Your fake boyfriend?" Annabeth clarified.

"Ohhhh," I said. I had almost forgotten about him. Actually, I did forget about him, up until now. "We have to fake break up soon. The only reason I started fake dating him in the first place was to throw Drew off me and Jason's trail."

"Where's Lacy?" Jason asked.

"She's going to call when she's done with dinner," I answered. I looked outside. It had stopped raining hard, but it was just a bit of a drizzle now. "She's at a friend's house. I think Jason can go home after dinner, and Annabeth and I can drive to the friend's house."

The rest of our breakfast-dinner was spent in silence, listening to the light rain outside.

The phone rang.

"I'll get it!" I yelled, springing up from my seat.

Annabeth and Jason stared at me like I was the Mad Hatter.

"Sorry," I said lowering my volume. "I just do that when Lacy's at home to let her know that she doesn't have to get the phone."

Jason clamped his mouth shut, trying not to crack up.

I grabbed the phone. "Hello?"

"I'm done!" a cheery voice said from the other side of the phone. "You can come pick me up now. I'm at Sadie's."

I groaned. "Is Carter home?"

"Yeah," Lacy said. "Did you want to talk to him? Because I can-"

"No," I said. "No talking needed. I'll be there in ten to fifteen minutes. See ya."

"Okay!" Lacy said. I imagined a big grin on her face. That was the kind of person she was. "See you!"

I turned off the phone.

"We're gonna leave for Sadie's soon," I said, eating the last piece of fruit on my plate.

"Sadie's?" Jason grumbled. "With your little fake boyfriend?"

"Is someone jealous?" Annabeth teased. "Because the way I remember it, you were the one who-"

Jason held up his hands. "Please don't rub it in."

Annabeth laughed. "Whatever you say."

When everyone was done, we dropped Jason off at his house. Then, we drove to Sadie's house. It took seven minutes to get there, so I was pretty on time.

Annabeth rang the doorbell.

The door opened to show a half naked Carter.

"Ew, oh my gods!" Annabeth shielded her eyes.

I put my hands in front of my face. "Put on a shirt!"

"You should like this, Piper," Carter said, laughing. "Afterall, you're my girlfriend, remember?"

"Fake girlfriend," I emphasized.

"You've never seen a half naked guy before?" Carter said.

I sighed and forced myself to look at him. "Whatever. Let us in."

Carter opened the door and gestured for us to come in. I squeezed past him, trying not to bump his bare chest. Annabeth did the same.

The Kane's house was actually pretty nice. There were two floors. In almost every room, there were decorative Egyptian pots and stuff. It kind of jazzed everything up and made the house more unique.

"Where's Lacy?" Annabeth said.

"Upstairs in Sadie's room," Carter said. "Turn right, and it's the third door to on the left."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

Annabeth and I went upstairs, turned right, and walked to the third door to the left, just like Carter said to.

I knocked. "Sadie? Lacy?"

The door opened, and Lacy stood there staring at me happily. "Piper! Annabeth!" She grabbed our wrists and led us into Sadie's room. "Look what we did!"

A big, white poster laid on the wooden floor of Sadie's room. The word's NO BULLYING were sprawled across the middle in blue glitter glue. Tons of drawings of kids getting bullied and kids saving other kids from getting bullied circled the words. Some were stick figures, and others were somewhat realistic looking. At the bottom, in bright pink marker, it said: -Lacy and Sadie.

"Wow," I said. "Looks great. What's it for?"

"Our school is having an anti-bullying week," Sadie explained.

"They chose us to draw a poster," Lacy said.

"Because we're the best artists ever!" Sadie jumped up and down.

"They're going to hang it all around the school in every single hallway," Lacy said, excitedly.

"That's awesome," Annabeth said. "Are you going to keep it here and turn it in tomorrow? Or is Lacy bringing it back to her house and bringing it to school?"

"We're going to keep it here," Sadie said.

Lacy nodded.

"So..." I said. "Ready to go home, Lace?"

"Yup!" Lacy said.

"I'll walk you guys out!" Sadie offered.

I chuckled. "Okay, Sadie."

As promised, Sadie walked with us down the hall, down the stairs, and to the door. Carter came to the door, this time with a shirt.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Good. You put on a shirt."

"Yup," he said. "Bye, babe."

I rolled my eyes. "We're scheduling a breakup tomorrow."

Lacy's jaw dropped. "You guys are dating?"

"Fake dating," I said. "Don't ask."

"Aw, babe," Carter said, his voice dripping with fake sadness. "Don't be like this. We can work it out."

"The woman wants to separate," Annabeth said. "Respect her wishes, man."

I snorted.

"Can we go now?" Lacy asked, awkwardly.

I held out my hand. "Sure thing, sis."

"You ready?" Annabeth whispered to me.

We were in the lunch line, getting ready to get our lunch. Today, we were planning for me to "break up" with Carter and get the whole lunch room's attention. They would go spread rumors and everyone would know we broke up.

"Yeah," I whispered back. "Oh my gods, this is going to be such a big scene. I hate attention."

"You should get used to it," Annabeth advised. "Drew will pull you into the spotlight for the rest of your life, and not the good kind of spotlight."

I groaned and took a tray of meatless lasagna. Annabeth took one with meat.

"I just don't want to start all the drama today." I got some salad and drizzled Thousand Island sauce on top. "I'm just not used to it."

Annabeth got some salad with ranch. "I bet Drew is."

I scooped up some mandarin oranges. "Of course. She's a drama queen, isn't she?"

Annabeth got an apple. "And so she is."

After getting a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting, I entered my lunch code into the machine. Annabeth did the same, and we walked to our table.

Rachel and Calypso had home lunch, so they were already sitting there. Hazel was still in the lunch line, and Paris was sitting with Drew. Then, she got up and started walking towards our table.

"Hey, Paris," I called out.

She bit her lip.

"Paris?" Annabeth said.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you guys," Paris hissed. "I'm just passing by to tell you that."

I nodded. "Yeah I get-"

She walked away.

"That was kind of snotty," Annabeth said.

"Drew probably didn't want her to talk to us," I said, defensively.

Annabeth shrugged.

We ate for a few minutes.

Then, Hazel came. "Guys." She looked at the watch on her wrist. "It's time for Operation Let Us Break Up With Carter."

I snorted. "I thought I was the one breaking up with Carter, not us."

"Just do it," Hazel said.

"I'm waiting for Carter to come over," I said. "He's supposed to come over about..." I counted down the seconds until 12:00. "Three... Two... One..."

Carter got up from where he was sitting and came over to me. "Do we have to fake break up?"

"Yes," I said, firmly. "Now, go on."

"Hey, babe," Carter said, rather loudly. A few people from nearby tables turned to look at us. Then, they started to turn away.

"Carter!" I said quickly, trying to get their attention. "There's something I really need to tell you. It's really important."

Those few people kept listening, and a bit more people turned to stare. My face started to heat up. What if this stunt just made people think I was a drama queen like Drew? Then, they would give me a lot more attention, and that was why I didn't want to tell everyone about my dad.

Don't worry. I took a deep breath. It'll be over before you know it.

"What is it?" Carter said, his forehead creasing with worry. Wow, he was a good actor.

"I-I think..." At this point, everyone was looking at us with curiosity. Drew' eyes narrowed. I cleared my throat and raised my voice. "I think we need to break up."

A collective gasp went through the crowd.

Another gasp came from Carter's mouth. He put his hand over his heart, dramatically. "What? Whatever for?"

I resisted the urge to giggle. "It's just not working out."

"Why not?" Carter asked.

I glared at him. This was not part of the plan. I was just supposed to say 'it's just not working out' and he was supposed to sob.

"You're not my type," I said, through gritted teeth.

Carter clenched his jaw. "Well, you can't break up with me."

I glared at him again. "And why is that?"

"Because I break up with you," Carter said, a smile making its way onto his face.

Now, it was my turn to clench my jaw. "No, I break up with you. I broke up with you first."

"No," Carter said. "I'm the one who-"

"Shut up!" a girl from the opposite end of the cafeteria shouted. "You guys are over, okay? It doesn't matter who broke up with who."

I squinted at her. Did I know her? She was tall and her Amber eyes gave out a very intimidating look. Her black hair was cut off at her shoulders and her caramel skin matched Carter's. She was dressed in jeans, a white shirt, and a camouflage jacket.

No, she wasn't in any of my classes, but I had seen her around.

Carter stared at her. "Who are you?"

"Does it matter?" the mystery girl said.

She sat with no one else, and she didn't seem to mind. She was very pretty, and looked like she would make a good friend.

Carter looked away.

The girl sat down, and I wasn't able to find her for the rest of lunch.

"Are you going with me on the bus today?" I asked Annabeth as we walked to my locker.

"Yeah," Annabeth said.

I put in the locker combination and opened my locker. Annabeth got out my jean jacket. I took off my backpack, put the jacket on, and put the backpack back on. Then, I slammed my locker shut, turned around, and almost ran right into Drew.

"Well, well, well," she growled. Behind her, two of her minions stood, glowering at me.

Annabeth took a protective stance in front of me. "Get lost."

"Look who's here," she said, ignoring Annabeth. Her eyes bore into my skin like she could see straight through my soul. It was pretty creepy.

"Drew," I said, keeping my face straight.

"Poor baby." Drew's voice was smothered in false sympathy. "Getting dumped in front of the school, and still not feeling embarrassed."

I glared at her. "I dumped him first."

"Remember?" Drew said.

I had no idea what I was supposed to remember.

"It doesn't matter who broke up with who," Drew quoted the mystery girl from the cafeteria.

Did Drew know her? Was the girl friends with Drew? If so, I take back the thing about her seeming like a good friend.

"Who is she?" I blurted.

"What?" Drew said.

"The girl," I said. "In the cafeteria."

Drew shrugged. "All I know is she's definitely begging for attention."

I wanted to defend the girl, but I didn't know her.

"Whatever," I said instead. "You should scram."

"Fine," Drew snapped. She started walking away, but then she turned back around. "By the way, I'm sorry for your loss." She turned back around after saying the snooty comment, and strutted down the hallway, her minions following.

"Let's go," Annabeth said, sighing. "Don't let her get to you."

"I never have," I said, truthfully. Well, except for when she's with Jason. That definitely gets to me.

"So you and Carter broke up?" The voice startled me.

The mystery girl from lunch stood in front of us, her amber eyes staring intensely at me. I flinched.

"Yeah," I said. "Who are you?"

"That's none of your business," the girl snapped. Whoa, she was sassy.

"I know you," Annabeth said, looking up at the ceiling like she was trying to remember where the girl was from. "You're in one of my classes."

The girl clenched her jaw. "I don't know what you're talking about."

What was her problem?

I stared at her. "Okay, so why are you talking to us?"

"Am I not allowed to?" she said. "Do you think you're too cool for me like Drew?"

Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

"I never said that," I said, putting my hands up in surrender. "I'm just wondering why you approached us if you were planning on being so snappy."

The girl cracked a small smile. "You're sassy, too, huh?"

"Erm... Sure?"

"See you around, McLean," the girl said walking away from us. "You too, Chase."

She walked out of view.

Annabeth turned to me. "That was a rather strange encounter."

Strange it was.

**So guys... now that you know pat of Jason's reason, are you going to judge him less? :) and who do you think this mystery girl is? Review below! ~Jackie**


	24. A Surprise Party

**First of all, THANK YOU FOR 100 ALERTS! (It's actually 103 alerts now, but you get what I mean) and 77 FAVORITES! Let's shoot for 100 soon :) If you guys want, please recommend this book to your fellow book nerds! **

**I want to take this time to thank all of you for reading this throughout my first 22 chapters. I'm really happy and some of you have read this fanfic since MARCH! Can you believe that? I LOVE YOU GUYS SO SO SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR YOUR SWEET REVIEWS!**

**I also want to answer to a few questions and comments that you guys might have, so here goes (I only picked a few): **

**Socially Awkward Taco: ****Zia! YAY! Zarter is gonna start! They are so cute! Maybe you could have a bit where Lacey wants a boyfriend because Sadie does. I looked at your author page and saw that you are from MN! Me too! Are you by the Twin Citites area?**

**Me: I think you'll be pretty satisfied with the next chappie :) I took your idea, I thought it would be pretty cute and funny. And yup, I'm from MN! I live near St. Paul. **

**RosiePiggy : ****Hey,**  
** This is a brilliant story**  
** Do you mind telling me how often you update?**  
** Please keep updating this is an amazing story️**

**Me: THANK YOU SO MUCH! And I usually update about every one and a half weeks, depending on my sched. Enjoy the next chapter!**

**SO... Without further interruptions... READ ON! ~Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**A Surprise Party**

"I swear I know her," Annabeth said, scrunching her face up with thought.

We were in my room, thinking about what happened at lunch and after school today. Lacy was already at home, and we were all about to head over to Annabeth's for her stepmom's surprise birthday dinner.

"I've never seen her." I was in my closet, pulling on a dark blue dress that went two inches above my knees with light floral designs on it.

"Can you get the yearbook from last year?" Annabeth asked.

"Mkay," I said, putting on a thin brown belt. I went over to the bookshelf in my closet and pulled out the yearbook from my freshman year. Then, I stepped out of the closet.

Annabeth snorted. "Nice dress."

"It's your mom's birthday," I said. "I have to dress up." I looked at Annabeth. She was wearing a black skirt and a white top tucked into her skirt. "You look like you're attending a funeral."

Annabeth stuck her tongue out and held her hand out. I gave her the yearbook.

She opened it up to the first page and started skimming through names.

I laughed when her finger went over her own picture. "Nice picture."

In the picture, her hair was up except for her short side bangs that couldn't fit into her ponytail. She looked like she was forcing her smile, which she probably was.

"Shut up," Annabeth said, continuing to move her finger along the pictures. She turned the page and kept looking. Then she turned again.

"I hope her last name's not at the end of the alphabet," I said.

She passed Jason. Jason looked really good in his picture. His hair was gelled in the good way, his eyes were staring intensely at the camera but in a somewhat nice way, and he had a weirdly heroic smile on his face.

Annabeth wiggled her eyebrows and kept going.

When we got to my picture, we still hadn't found the girl. What last name did this girl have?

There were different pictures on the bottom and top of each page. Pictures of people in the classroom, spirit week, dances, plays, and about ten thousand different other things.

One picture was of a lunch table with eight people on one half, and one person on the other half, way at the end of the table. The eight people were smiling at the camera, but the person at the way end just sat there, head held high, fork in her mouth. Her black hair only went to her jawline and a hint of her amber eyes showed.

"That's her!" I shouted, pointing at the picture. The girl had probably grown out her hair over the summer because now it was to her shoulders.

Annabeth squinted at it. "Yep. That's her alright."

I squinted at the picture too. She wore a white Goode Gazelles (our school mascot) sweatshirt with tiny letters on the back. I squinted even more. The letters read Rashid.

"What's Rashid?" I asked.

Annabeth snapped. "Her last name! My English teacher always does attendance by last name. She always says 'Rashid' and the girl would say 'here.'"

I grabbed the yearbook a flipped all the way to the page with the last names starting with the letter "R". "There she is!" I pointed to a girl with shoulder length black hair, her lips barely in a smile.'

"Zia Rashid," Annabeth said. "That's right, her name is Zia."

I rolled my eyes. "I bet you didn't know that before."

"I did too," Annabeth denied her wrongness.

"Well, whatever her name is, she's creepy," I said truthfully. "She seems to be really closed in."

"She seems like she would make a great leader if you ask me," Annabeth said. "With all that sass, she would make a great friend."

"That's true," I said. Zia Rashid seemed pretty cool. Sass? Check. Great retorts? Check. Hates Drew? Check.

Annabeth checked her watch. "It's 4:30. We should get to my house to help Dad before my stepmom gets home."

"What time is she coming home today?" I asked her.

"Around 5:30," she said.

"Isn't she hitting the big four zero?" I asked. Annabeth's stepmom was almost ten years younger than Mr. Chase.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "We're going to invite a few of the relatives on my mom's side. I don't feel that comfortable with them, so I'm glad I'll have you."

"Aw," I gushed. "How sweet."

"Whatever." Annabeth got up from the bed. I got the gift bag (which contained a pair of dangly diamond earrings, a charm bracelet, white and gold nail polish, and a light blue scarf, all of which Mom designed) that I had gotten for Mrs. Chase and followed her out the door.

"Lacy!" I called when we passed Lacy's room. "Come on, we're going to Annabeth's house now."

"Okay!" The door opened almost immediately, like she was waiting by the door the whole time.

"Wow, you look nice, Lace," Annabeth admired.

Lacy did look really cute. She was wearing a white lace dress with one inch thick straps and a flouncy lace skirt. Her hair was in two braids tied with two pink ribbons.

"Thank you!" Lacy said, running down the steps, two at a time.

Annabeth and I followed her. I put on brown ankle boots, Annabeth slipped on her flats, and Lacy slipped her feet into cute crochet slip ons.

"Walk or drive?" I asked.

"Bike?" Lacy suggested.

"In dresses?" I said.

Lacy nodded.

Annabeth shrugged. "Why not."

We all went to our bike shed (yes, we have a bike shed. One of the advantages of your dad being a filthy rich moviestar. Honestly, I don't get why we can't just store our bikes in our garage. I mean, it's got enough room) and got out some bikes. Our bike shed had a huge collection of bikes, some meant for sports, some fashionable casual ones.

I took a casual white bike, Lacy took a casual baby pink bike, and Annabeth took a casual light blue one.

It took twelve minutes to get to Annabeth's house. I hadn't been to Annabeth's house for over a month. It was mostly because I usually need to stay home and take care of Lacy, so Annabeth usually comes over almost everyday.

Since the garage door was opened, we leaned our bikes against the wall of Annabeth's garage. The door in the garage that led to the actual house was locked, so we knocked on the door.

A man with gray streaks in his hair and a bit of a beard opened the door and smiled warmly, but his eyes seemed tired.

"Mr. Chase," I greeted, smiling.

"Ah," Mr. Chase said. "Piper! Annabeth!" He looked at Lacy.

Lacy opened her mouth to tell him her name.

"Nope," Mr. Chase said, quickly. "Don't remind me." He scratched his chin. "Ah, yes. Lacy!"

Lacy grinned.

"Are your parents coming?" Mr. Chase asked.

I winced. Mr. Chase knew my mom, but not my moviestar dad. "My mother should arrive later after visiting her store to sign autographs and take pictures."

Mr. Chase nodded understandingly.

"Dad," Annabeth said, slowly. "This is the part where you invite us in."

Mr. Chase chuckled. "Yes, yes. Come in." He opened the door a little wider to let us in.

The first thing that greeted me was a little stuffed animal owl displayed on a table. The second thing that greeted me was the smell of wasabi and sesame oil.

I inhaled deeply. "What are you making?"

"Sushi," Mr. Chase said. "My wife's favorite."

I looked at him, alarmed. How was I going to eat sushi? Sushi was fish. Fish was meat. I don't eat meat. "Um, actually-"

"Don't worry." Mr. Chase led us to the rather big kitchen. A few plates of colorful sushi were already made, sitting on the kitchen island. One plate was a plate of vegetarian sushi. "I've got you covered."

I let out a breath of relief.

"How can we help, Mr. Chase?" Lacy asked, politely.

"Annabeth," Mr. Chase said. "Make the teriyaki tofu. You know how to do that."

Annabeth saluted. "Aye aye, captain." She went straight to the refrigerator to get the tofu.

"Piper." Mr. Chase turned to me. "You're in charge of the seaweed salad. It shouldn't take long to make. The recipe is on the table."

I nodded.

"What about me, Mr. Chase?" Lacy asked, her eyes wide.

"Lacy," Mr. Chase said in a gentle voice. "You can get out the chopsticks, forks, spoons, napkins, plates, and little bowls. There will be twelve adults, five teens, three tweens, and four kids, including ourselves." He pointed at a big glass table in the main dining room. 'The adults will sit there." He pointed to the smaller dining table made of dark wood around the corner. "The teens and tweens will be there." Then, he pointed at the marble kitchen island. "And the kids will sit there."

Lacy pouted. "Am I one of the kids?"

"Yes," Mr. Chase said. He rubbed his hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to finish making the Shrimp Pad Thai."

I went over to the counters and looked at all the food on the counter. There were five plates of sushi, three plates of teriyaki beef and salmon, four plates of fried rice, and a plate of vegetarian Pad Thai.

"Wow," I said. "You must've been working all day."

"Yes," Mr. Chase said, adding some kind of seasoning to his Shrimp Pad Thai. "There's also soup in the fridge. I'll warm it up later."

I nodded, getting out a really large bowl mixing bowl, two slightly smaller (but still large) glass bowls, and a medium sized glass bowl.

"I'm going to the garage to make the tofu," Annabeth declared. Her house had an extra stove thing in the garage. The house was big, but not big enough to have that big of a kitchen.

My house has an overly huge kitchen. That's because Mom hires a few chefs over to make food for Lacy and I for dinner, so they need space to make their food.

By 5:15, everything was ready. Each seat had a soup bowl on top of a plate, a pair of chopsticks, a napkin, a fork and spoon, and a glass for drinks. Two large-ish plates of sushi, a large plate of teriyaki beef and salmon, two plates of fried rice, and a large bowl of shrimp Pad Thai were on the adult's table. A kind of large plate of sushi, a small plate of vegetarian sushi, a medium sized plate of teriyaki beef and salmon, a small plate of teriyaki tofu, a plate of fried rice, and a small bowl of vegetarian Pad Thai sat on the teens' and tweens' table.

On the kids table was a plate of sushi, a small plate of teriyaki beef and salmon, a medium sized plate of fried rice, and a medium sized bowl of shrimp Pad Thai. Glass bottles of wine and sparkling sat on the kitchen counter with plastic bottles of Sprite and Fanta. The soup was still in the refrigerator, but we would warm it up when it was time for dinner. Same with the beef, salmon, fried rice, and Pad Thai, except they weren't in the refrigerator.

The house was super clean. We took out some of their best centerpieces, and hung up their nicest framed pictures. The bathrooms smelled like scented candles and the bedrooms had a slight trace of perfume. Even Bobby and Matthew's rooms were cleaned out.

"Where's Bobby and Matthew?" I asked, flopping on to the dark brown leather couch in front of the T.V.

"Dad went them to daycare today because he was too busy to take care of them," Annabeth replied, sitting down next to me. "He needed to clean up the majority of the house and make all this food. Mom is going to pick them up in a few minutes."

Annabeth's phone started to ring. She looked at the caller ID. "It's Bobby and Matthew's daycare." She picked up and turned it on speaker mode. "Hello?"

"Annabeth, Annabeth!" the two voices of Bobby and Matthew chimed.

"Yes?" Annabeth said.

"Mom just called!" Bobby said.

"She said she's coming to pick us up in fifteen minutes!" Matthew informed us.

"That means we'll be home in about..." Bobby trailed off.

"Twenty-five minutes, dumbo," Matthew said.

"Hey!" Bobby sounded offended. "Don't call me a dumbo! Annabeth said that's not nice."

"Boys," Annabeth said, holding in a laugh. "Let's try to get along."

"Are you guys ready yet?" Bobby asked.

"We're ready," I said.

"Piper!" they both cheered.

"Do you want to know our plan, Piper?" Matthew asked.

"What plan?" I said.

"When we get home," Bobby said excitedly. "We're gonna rush into the door before mommy."

"And when mommy comes," Matthew said, even more excitedly. "We're going to blow a party horn, and everyone will pop out and say surprise!"

"That's a great idea, Matthew," I complimented.

"But it was my idea," Bobby complained. "It's just that Matthew said it first."

"Did not!" Matthew said.

"I'm going to hang up now," Annabeth told them.

"No!" Bobby and Matthew's horrified voices said.

Annabeth hung up, just as the doorbell rung. I followed Annabeth to the door. When we opened it, and an Asian man that looked like he was in his late twenties stood before us.

"Hey, Uncle Riley," Annabeth greeted politely. "This is Piper. You've seen her a couple times."

"Yup, I remember," Uncle Riley said. "The last time I saw her was when she was eleven. She was so small."

I rolled my eyes. I remembered Uncle Riley. He was Annabeth's coolest uncle of her stepmom's side. He was single and had just finished college.

Annabeth and I greeted the guests when they came in. Everyone had came by the time Bobby and Matthew alerted us that they were about to arrive, except for my mom. She promised to be there by the time we actually start eating dinner.

An urgent knocking came from the front door along with the doorbell ringing. Each knock came one after another, and each ring came one after another.

Annabeth ran to the door. "It's probably Bobby and Matthew! Everyone, hide!"

Adults ducked behind the kitchen island, counters, couches, and tables. Kids wedged themselves into tiny corners. I hid underneath the second dining table with Lacy.

Annabeth opened the door to let Bobby and Matthew rush in. They both hid in a little closet, holding onto a party horn. Annabeth closed the door, spotted me and crawled under the table to hide with Lacy and I.

"Boys!" Mrs. Chase's muffled voice called. I heard the knob turn. "Bobby! Mathew! What's the rush?" She looked around for the boys.

The sound of the party horn shattered the silence of the house. Everyone popped out and yelled, "Surprise!"

Mrs. Chase stood at the doorway, gawking. When she saw Mr. Chase making his way towards her, she broke into a grin. "Frederick! Did you do all this?"

"With help from Annabeth, Piper, and Lacy," Mr. Chase said, modestly.

Bobby jumped up. "And me too! I was distracting mommy so she would drive slower!"

"Me three!" Matthew said. "I was doing the same thing as Bobby, except better!"

Bobby opened his mouth to insult Matthew, but Annabeth shot him a warning look. He just scowled.

All the kids and teenagers went up to Annabeth's room upstairs after wishing Mrs. Chase a happy birthday. The adults were downstairs talking to one another. Dinner would be served at 6:00.

"Okay, everyone," Annabeth said, sitting cross-legged on her bed. I sat down next to her. "Time for some introductions." She gestured to me. "This is Piper." She pointed to Lacy who was sitting next to me. "That's her sister, Lacy."

A little girl with her brown hair pulled into a high ponytail who was nearly swallowed by a gray beanbag chair raised her hand. "They don't look like sisters."

"We're not, really," I said. "She's my cousin, but I call her my sister."

A guy sitting against the pale blue wall opened his mouth to say something, but Annabeth glared at him.

"They're sisters," she confirmed. "End of story."

The guy shut his mouth. He was rather cute, but definitely not my type. He looked like the Asian version of Percy, and it seemed he probably acted a little like Percy, too.

"So," Annabeth said. She pointed to the girl with the high ponytail. "That's Clarissa."

Clarissa waved. She was cute. She wore a fluffy pink dress that glimmered when she moved.

"I like your dress," Lacy said, shyly.

Clarissa smiled. She had three missing teeth. "Thanks. Your dress is really pretty, too."

"I'm Nathan," the Asian Percy said.

I nodded at him.

In less than ten minutes, I knew who everyone was.

Clarissa was the only kids besides Lacy, Bobby, and Matthew. She was half Asian, half Caucasian.

The three tweens were Kelsey, Avery, and Elliott. Kelsy was twelve, and kind of rude and spoiled. She chewed her pink bubble gum loudly, interrupted people often, and rolled her eyes every twenty seconds. She wore a strappy pink cropped top that showed a lot of her back and a high waisted skirt that was a little too short for someone her age. Avery was seemed very polite. She, like Clarissa, was half Asian, and was the same age as Kelsey. She sat with her legs crossed, her hands folded neatly in her lap, and her lips slightly parted. Her hair was in a side braid and she wore a black high-low skirt. Elliot was eleven and seemed like he was uncomfortable to be in a girl's room, even if he was her step-cousin. He looked around at throw pillows like they were about to come to life and eat him.

The four teenagers (not counting Nathan) were overall very nice. Their names were Aiden, Parker, Josie, and Lilly. Aiden was sixteen and also half Asian. His hair was blackish brown, his eyes were blue-ish green, and he smelled like Axe cologne. The good kind. He was pretty cool and had the a little bit of the bad boy vibe. Parker was really goofy, like Leo. His black hair was wavy, and he was fourteen. Josie was fifteen and smiled so much, I was afraid her cheeks would hurt. Her gray halter top and pale blue skater skirt fit right in with the theme of Annabeth's room. Lilly was a perky fourteen year old. She had a bad habit of finishing people's sentences, but seemed embarrassed whenever she did it, not smug, unlike Kelsey. She wore a lace cream colored dress with a skirt that kind of flared out.

Kelsey was an only child. Clarissa, Avery, and Aiden were siblings. Elliott and Parker were brothers, which left Lilly and Josie, who were sisters.

Lacy tugged on my arm.

I leaned down. "Hmm?"

"I want Elliott to be my boyfriend, Piper," she whispered.

I stared at her in disbelief. "What gave you that idea?"

"Sadie," Lacy whispered. "She has a boyfriend."

"That's different," I said. "She's eleven. You're nine. And even then, you shouldn't date until you're at least twelve. Saves you from heartbreak. Although you still get heartbroken after you're twelve..."

"Please," Lacy pleaded.

I shook my head. "You're allowed to have a crush on him, but not date him."

Lacy pouted. "You're no fun, Piper."

I sighed. "You're nine. Just wait three years."

"Fine," Lacy said.

"Let's play get to know you games," Aiden said, suddenly. He had a sly smile dancing on his face. "Like a truth or truth game. Each person gets to ask another person a question, and it just keeps going. Whoever doesn't answer a question has to do a dare, chosen by the group. "

"Sure," Annabeth said. "That's the best idea you've ever come up with, Aiden. What happened?"

Aiden stuck his tongue out and Annabeth, then turned to me. "So, Piper, are those lips virgin?"

I clenched my jaw. Annabeth reached over and punched his arm.

"Ow," he muttered. "Did I hit a soft spot? Are her lips virgin?"

"What's virgin?" Matthew asked.

Everyone ignored him, but a few of the kids had bewildered looks on their faces.

"No," I said. "They're not. My lips are not virgin, for your information."

"I bet she's a slut," Kelsey muttered. No one paid her any attention.

"Are you dating someone?" Aiden asked.

"I believe the rules were only one question," Annabeth pointed out. "Piper, it's your turn to ask a question."

"Um, okay," I said. "I don't exactly know what to ask."

"Anything," Annabeth said.

"Okay," I said. "Nathan, truth or truth?"

Nathan gave me a weird glance. "Truth? I don't have much of a choice here."

"Who, in this room, is the hottest?" I asked.

Josie snorted.

"Ew," Nathan said. "They're all my cousins."

"Not all of us," Annabeth said.

"Then, Piper," Nathan said. He squinted at me. "You did that on purpose."

I shrugged. "Not really. I was hoping you'd choose one of your cousins."

"Gross." Nathan wrinkled his nose. "So, Lacy, who would you choose to be your prince out of everyone here?"

I gave him a light punch, like Annabeth had with Aiden. Of course, I already knew the answer, but I didn't want Lacy being forced to tell everyone.

"Nobody," Lacy muttered, looking down at the floor.

"If you had to choose," Nathan said.

"I choose not answering the question," Lacy declared.

Aiden whooped. "It's dare time!"

"Let's throw her into the lake," Kelsey suggested, not looking up from her phone.

"Make her run around the neighborhood screaming, 'I LOST MY VOICE, SOMEBODY HELP ME FIND IT!'" Parker said, laughing at his own joke.

"Have her ding dong ditch that wrestler that lives down the street," Elliott said.

"Pour water all over the kitchen floor!"

"Jump up on one of the grown up's back!"

Lacy's head swiveled back and forth between the people talking, a slightly freaked out look on her face.

"Guys!" Lilly screeched.

The room grew silent and everyone looked at her.

"She's nine," Lilly said, a little more quieter this time. "Do you really want to see her thrown in the lake, or beat up by a wrestler?"

"No," Elliott said, sighing.

"Shouldn't we make her do something more reasonable?" Lilly said, being the peacemaker she seemed like.

"Sure," Parker said.

Kelsey rolled her eyes.

"Eat ten pickles," Nathan suggested.

Lacy gagged.

"Each of which are covered in mayo," Parker added.

Lacy gagged again.

"Let's make that five then," I said, throwing Nathan and Parker dirty glances.

"Eight," Kelsey said. "Compromise."

"The middle of five and ten is seven point five," Annabeth corrected.

"I think Lacy should eat only one," Clarissa said, smiling at Lacy.

"Okay," Annabeth said. "Everyone say what they think Lacy should eat, and we'll find the average."

"Ten," Nathan voted.

"Three," I said, changing my answer.

"Eight," Kelsey said, stubbornly.

"One!" Clarissa said.

"Three," Annabeth agreed with me.

"Ten," Aiden said, smiling evilly.

"Two," Lilly said.

"Five," Josie argued.

"Three," Elliott said, smiling sympathetically at Lacy. Lacy blushed.

"Six," Parker said.

"Three," Avery said, gently.

"Can I vote too?" Lacy asked.

"Sure," Annabeth said. "You have to say at least one."

"One," Lacy said.

Annabeth muttered to herself for two seconds, then declared the average. "Five."

Some people cheered, some people groaned.

"Just what I wanted," Josie said, a smug smile on her face.

"Just what I didn't want," Lacy grumbled.

"It'll be over before you know it," Elliott assured her.

I silently judged him. He seemed like a nice kid, but Lacy was too young to date him. She'd have to wait until high school.

"What grade are you in, Elliott?" I asked.

"Um, fifth?" Elliott answered. "Why?"

"Did you just turn eleven?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "In late August."

I nodded. So, Elliott wasn't a full two years older than Lacy. He was, like, a year and ten months older.

"Why?" Elliott said.

I shrugged.

"So," Aiden said. "How about those five pickles?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Annabeth yelled.

Mr. Chase opened the door. "Annabeth, Piper, come help me heat up the dinner. It's 5:47."

I got up from the bed. "Okay." I took Lacy's hand. "Come on."

Nathan sighed. "She got lucky. When we're done with dinner, she's eating those pickles."

Lacy looked queasy.

"Shut up, idiot," Annabeth said.

Annabeth and I warmed up the beef, salmon, fried rice, and Pad Thai in the microwave, then put them back onto the tables. We put the soup pot into the stove, and turned up the heat. The adults and kids were already starting to settle into their seats.

The doorbell rang.

I ran over to the door and opened it to see my mom standing there with a big, friendly grin.

"Piper, dear!" Mom said.

"Hey, mom," I greeted her. I looked at the box wrapped in sparkly pink wrapping paper that was in her hands. "Mom, we already got her a gift, remember?"

"Yes, dear," she said, walking through the doorway and stepping out of her pumps. "But I got her something else." She leaned close to me and whispered, "I got her an iPad."

"That's nice," I said, a little disappointed that she thought the original gift wasn't enough. "Come on. We're about to eat."

Mom came in, and Kelsey's jaw dropped.

"Oh my gosh!" she squealed, bursting everyone's eardrums. "It's Aphrodite McLean! I didn't know she was going to be here!"

My mother opened her mouth to say something.

Kelsey ran up to her and started shaking her hand like a madman. "I was gonna go to your autograph signing at the mall today, but my mom wouldn't let me because I had to be here. But now that I know you're here, this is even better!" She held her skirt out. "Look, I'm wearing your skirt! Sign it. Sign my face, too!"

I rolled my eyes. An over-obsessed fan wasn't new.

"That's great," Mom said. "I'll sign your skirt, um, or your face after dinner." She left her gift on the gift table and sat down in a seat next to Mrs. Chase.

When Annabeth and I got back to the table, there were only two seats left. One next to Avery, one next to Aiden. Annabeth took the one next to Avery. I groaned and sat down next to Aiden.

Aiden smiled sweetly at me. "Hey."

I stared at him and got some vegetarian sushi.

"What's up with all these vegetarian plates?" Aiden asked no one in particular. "The other tables don't have them."

"It's for Piper," Annabeth answered, her mouth stuffed with regular sushi.

Aiden turned back to me. "You're a vegetarian?"

I nodded.

"Is Lacy?" Aiden asked.

"No," I said.

"Why are you vegetarian?" Aiden wondered.

Annabeth snorted. "It's quite a story."

"What's the story?" Aiden asked, his eyes full of curiosity.

"You ask too many questions," I commented. I scooped some vegetarian Pad Thai onto my plate and got some teriyaki tofu.

"Tell me," Aiden said.

"It's a really simple story actually," I said, truthfully.

"A simple, funny story," Annabeth added.

The whole table was looking at me expectantly now. Kelsey looked like she was about to listen to a nursery rhyme.

"So," I said. "My dad was driving and we were on a road trip. I was, like, six or something. We drove past a slaughter house, and it smelled so bad. I could smell it through the car, it smelled like-"

"We're eating," Elliott reminded me.

"Okay," I said. "It smelled bad. Like really bad. So anyway, I started bawling and I just refused to eat meat since then."

"Lame," Kelsey said, looking back down at her phone.

"It wasn't supposed to be that interesting," I pointed out.

"Still lame," Kelsey said.

"So you weren't always a vegetarian?" Avery said.

"Nope," I replied, eating my tofu.

Parker shoved a piece of sushi in my face. "Don't you miss the wonders of eating meat?"

"No," I said, ducking from the flying fish in front of my face.

"Parker," Annabeth warned.

"But it's so delicious," Aiden said, taking a bite into his beef.

"Only stupid people don't eat meat," Kelsey told me, taking a loud bite of her shrimp.

I clenched my fists.

"That's not true," Aiden said, noticing my clenched fists.

"It-" Kelsey said.

"Shut up, Kelsey." Annabeth gritted her teeth.

Kelsey scowled. "I'm telling your mom."

"Kelsey," Josie said. "Stop being such a snitch."

Kelsey's face turned bright red. "I'm not a snitch!"

"Come on, guys," Lilly spoke up. "Let's be civil here."

"Civil my ass," Kelsey muttered.

"Language!" Annabeth shouted.

"Jeez," Kelsey said.

We ate silently for a few minutes. The only sound was the clang of forks, the snapping of chopsticks, and sound of chewing.

Nathan spoke up. "So, Lacy's eating pickles, huh?"

"Unfortunately," I said. "Lacy hates pickles. And on top of that, she has to eat pickles with mayonnaise. She hates mayo if it's a large amount."

"The taste of it should resemble puke," Annabeth said.

"Hey," Elliott said. "Who's bright idea was it to have her eat pickles anyway?"

"Nathan's," Kelsey said, shooting Nathan a smug look.

"But it was Parker's idea with the mayo," Nathan whined. "I think mayo is worse than pickles, so Parker should get the blame here."

"I think I should get half the blame," Parker defended himself.

"Does your family always act like this?" I asked Annabeth.

"Yes," Annabeth grumbled. "Now you know why I like my old mom's side better?"

Everyone looked down at the ground, awkwardly. Kelsey clenched her jaw and Lilly bit her lip.

"She didn't mean it like that," I said.

"I sure did," Annabeth muttered so that only I could hear.

Wow, people had attitude here.

After everyone was done eating, we went back to Annabeth's room with a styrofoam bowl, a jar of pickles, a jar of mayonnaise, a plastic fork, and a plastic knife. Bobby, Matthew, and Clarissa acted like this was the biggest dare anyone's ever done. They were just kids, so, who could blame them?

"This is gonna be so cool!" Matthew whooped.

"I think it's gonna be cooler more than you think it's gonna be cool!" Bobby shouted.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Clarissa said, playing with her own fingers.

Avery put her hand on Clarissa's shoulder. "It's alright, Clarrie. She's not going to die." Her voice was really soothing. Clarissa smiled and hugged her sister.

Lacy looked like she wanted to upchuck as Nathan dumped the pickles into a bowl. Parker opened the jar of mayo and used the knife to spread it all over the pickles. At the end, the pickles were completely covered with mayo. There was absolutely no sign of green. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought the pickles were little round slices of cream cheese.

Kelsey handed Lacy a fork. Lacy took the fork from her and reluctantly stabbed it into a pickle.

"Eat it!" Josie coaxed.

Lacy looked unsure of what to do.

"Just pinch your nose," Elliott advised. "You won't taste it as well. That's what I do with asparagus."

Lacy nodded and pinched her nose. Then, she lifted the fork to her mouth and took a large bite of the pickle. The loud crunch made it sound good, but I could tell by Lacy's sour face that it didn't taste good at all.

Lacy continued the sour face and kept chewing. When it was all chewed, she gulped it down.

Everyone cheered.

"Lacy, you don't have to eat it all," I said.

"Yes she does," Kelsey said.

"No she doesn't," Annabeth argued.

"She was supposed to," Kelsey said back.

Lacy groaned, pinched her nose, and quickly shoved the next pickle in her mouth. She chewed it fast, and forced herself swallow it.

"I think two is enough," I said.

Lacy shoved another one in her mouth and crunched on it.

Elliot stared at her. "Doesn't it taste bad?"

Lacy smiled weakly and nodded her head.

"You don't have to do it, Lace," I said.

"Just two more," Lacy assured me.

I looked at her, still unsure. Maybe the pickles and mayonnaise wouldn't digest well when it mixed together in her stomach. Mom and Dad would surely kill me. Oh wait, they were too busy being celebrities. Jane would definitely kill me.

Lacy ate another one. If she was pretending that it didn't taste bad, her face definitely gave it away. She had a sour expression on her face that showed she was really disgusted.

When she ate the last one, everyone cheered. Kelsey even looked a little impressed, but slightly disgusted.

After that, we started doing random things. Some of the time, we were on our phones, other times we were eating snacks, and sometimes we were talking.

An hour later, Lacy got up. "I have to go use the restroom."

I glanced up at Lacy. "Go ahead."

"I don't remember the way there," Lacy said, sheepishly.

"Go out of my room, turn right, and it'll be the second door on your left," Annabeth instructed. "That's the closest bathroom to my room. Besides the one actually in my room. But only Piper's allowed in that. I'd rather not you go in." Annabeth was very straight forward.

"Okay," Lacy said. She quickly darted out the door, not asking a single question.

I looked back down at my phone. There was a lot of drama today on all the social media stuff that people used at my school. People were spreading rumors about Jason and Drew, a little about Drew and Dylan, and even less of me. Even though I was a big target in Drew's life, most people just thought of me as that smart pretty girl who can talk people into doing things for her.

"I think you should go check up on your sister."

My head jolted up to see who was talking. After looking around for a few seconds, I noticed that Avery was looking at me, and everyone else was looking at Avery.

"She has been in there for a long time now," Elliott said.

"Maybe she feels sick," Clarissa said helpfully. She was sitting in the lap of a giant, gray koala bear in a corner of the room. "She sounded kind of queasy when she said she was going to the bathroom."

"Maybe." I got up and slipped my phone into my back pocket. "I'll go see what's up."

Annabeth got up too. "I'll go with you."

We both walked out of the room, turned right, and stopped at the bathroom. I knocked on it.

"Lace?" I called. "You in there? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she called back. She sounded like she was trying to cover up something. "I'm fine."

"Is it okay if I come in?" I asked.

"Just a moment," she said back. I heard the sink go on, and then a click as she unlocked the door. "Hello."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yep," she said. "Perfectly fine. Bye-bye." She started to close the door.

Annabeth used her foot to jam the door. "We know something's up, Lace. We're not going to leave until we find out."

"Nothing's up," Lacy said, casually. "You can leave, because there is nothing to find here, except me."

"What are you doing in here then?" I asked. "Why are you taking so long?"

"I'm, uh..." Lacy's eyes darted around, nervously. "Pooping." She started to close the door again. "Goodbye. I need to poop in peace now, if you'll excuse me." She closed the door all the way.

I stared at Annabeth with a questioning look in my eyes.

Annabeth shrugged. "She probably is pooping for all we know."

"I'm going to check on her again later," I said, suspiciously.

We came back into Annabeth's room to see all her cousins laying in a pile on the floor, a mess or arms and legs. They all looked bored to death. The only person who wasn't in the pile was Kelsey. She leaned against the wall, on her phone. Her phone was making keyboard clicks.

"Monkey pile," Josie muttered. Her voice was muffled, being near the bottom of the heap.

Bobby, who was at the top, draped his arm over his head. "We're bored, Annabeth."

"Yeah." Aiden stuck out his head. He was at the very bottom of the pile. "Bored, I tell you, bored."

"We've got nothing to do," Clarissa said. She was underneath Matthew, who was underneath Bobby.

"Aren't they heavy?" I wondered, looking at Aiden.

"Nope," he said. "I'm a strong man."

"Well what do you guys want to do?" Annabeth asked the monkey pile. "We can play games, read books, watch movies-"

"Movies!" most of them cried.

"Disney?" Clarissa requested.

"Sure," Annabeth said.

We settled on the Lion King. I was worried about Lacy because she wasn't out of the bathroom yet. Maybe if I told her we were watching the Lion King, she would come out. She would never intentionally miss one of her favorite movies.

"I'm going to check on Lacy," I announced. Nobody noticed me because they were all too busy helping Annabeth with her TV, or chattering about how much they loved or hated the Lion King.

I walked out to the hall and snuck up to the bathroom. I leaned my ear against the door and listened. Inside, Lacy was whimpering and whining. There was a rumbling noise that I couldn't really make out.

I knocked on the door. "Lacy."

"Mmm?" She did not sound one bit okay.

"You're not okay," I stated.

She sighed. I heard a noise that sounded like something scooting across the floor. The door opened and I found her sitting on the floor, hugging her knees, staring up at me.

"I have a tummy ache," she said.

I sighed. "Lacy, you could've told me that awhile ago. You should've waited until it started to hurt even more."

Lacy shrugged, helplessly.

I put my hand to her forehead to check her temperature. It was warmer than usual, but not that hot. "Stay here. I'm going to get Annabeth."

When I got Annabeth, she agreed to help me take care of Lacy. She sat down next to Lacy, holding her down and whispering jokes. I smiled and went downstairs.

"Do you know where the Tylenol is?" I asked Mr. Chase when I ran into him.

"No, sorry," he said. "Ask my wife. She'll know for sure."

I searched around the house and found her crowded by a few adults. I squeezed myself through the mini crowd and finally got to Mrs. Chase.

"Oh, hello dear," Mrs, Chase said. "May I help you?"

"Do you know where the Tylenol is?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "It's in the medicine cupboard in the kitchen. It's the one near the pantry. You know where that is. Also, do me a favor. When you go back upstairs, tell the kids to come down for cake."

I nodded and thanked her.

The kitchen was empty when I got there. All the adults were in the largest living room, and most of the kids were in Annabeth's room. I hummed to myself as I stood on my toes to reach one of the cabinets. Sure enough, it was the medicine cabinet.

The Tylenol was the closest one to the front, being one of the most common used medicine in most families. I took it out of the cabinet, then closed it. I was about to make my way back upstairs, when I heard a vibrating sound and a loud ding!

I reached my hand into my back pocket. Someone had texted me.

_Stay_ _away from_ _Jason_ _Grace_, _or I'll_ _do_ _something_ _that_ _you will_ _not like_.

I gasped and dropped the medicine bottle from my left hand. Thankfully, the plastic didn't break.

"Whoa there," said a voice.

I whirled around and saw Aiden staring at me with the smallest amount of concern.

"You okay there?" he asked.

"Fine," I said. "I just received some, uh, interesting news."

He nodded and grabbed a plastic cup from a bag. "What type of interesting news?"

"Nothing you would understand," I said. It was true. He didn't even know Jason Grace.

Aiden poured himself a cup of Sprite. "Are you sure?"

"Yup," I said.

Aiden put his cup down on the counter and looked at me quizzically.

I started to inch away from him. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

Aiden lunged at me and grabbed my phone from my hands. My eyes widened and I leapt onto his back, wrestled him for a bit, and reached for my phone. I snatched it away and glared at him.

"The only thing I saw was the name Jason Grace, I swear," he said, putting his hands up in surrender.

"See?" I said. "You don't even know him."

"Actually I do."

I gawked at him. How would he know Jason?

"He's on my soccer team," Aiden informed me.

Oh. That's how.

"He's always complaining about his girlfriend and he's always talking about this other girl with brown hair and kaleido-" He suddenly stopped and stared at me open mouthed.

"What?" I said. "Did I do something?"

He shut his mouth. "Nope. Go bring your medicine to Lacy. Nothing to worry about down here."

I eyed him as I walked towards the stairs. How did he know this Tylenol was for Lacy? And what did he mean by Jason was always talking about this girl with brown hair?

I shook my head and walked up the stairs. There were other things for me to worry about. Like the person who texted me, which was obviously Drew, no doubt. If she wanted to keep her identity secret, she was definitely not doing a very good job of it.

"There you are," Annabeth said, when she saw me. "What took you so long? You were down there for awhile."

"I had an encounter with Aiden," I said, taking off the cap of the Tylenol and giving a pill to Annabeth.

Annabeth put the pill on the table and filled a cup with water. "What kind of encounter?"

"I'll tell you later," I said, glancing at Lacy.

"Okay." Annabeth gave the water and pill to Lacy.

We went back to Annabeth's room to tell everyone to come downstairs. Lacy was feeling a little bit better, but I knew she would feel even better when the pill actually digested.

All the kids came downstairs to eat cake. It was ice cream cake, courtesy of Matthew and Bobby. Mrs. Chase didn't seem to enjoy it that much, but at least she was laughing and having a good time.

After all the cake, it was time for the presents. There were a lot of colorful present boxes sitting in a corner of the living room. Annabeth and I carried them over to the couch, where Mrs. Chase would open the gifts.

"Ours first, mommy!" Matthew cried.

"Yeah, mommy, ours first!" Bobby agreed, which was a first.

The gift was Bobby and Matthew was a handmade clay bowl. It was glazed in white, and it had decorative gold designs. The bowl was almost perfect, so either they had help, or they were oddly crafty kids.

The other presents were pretty cool as well. Mr. Chase gave his wife one of his inventions. Annabeth had gotten her stepmom a DIY picture frame with a picture of their family and a handmade card. Kelsey's parents gave Mrs. Chase a sparkly pink store bought card, a designer jacket, and a cookbook. Kelsey eyed the jacket as if she really wanted it.

A white and blue store bought card, a stuffed bear, and a jar of peanut butter came from Uncle Riley. The peanut butter was probably an inside joke. Maybe the stuffed bear was too, but I thought it was a rather nice gift.

Aiden, Avery, and Clarissa's family got a lot of presents. There were three handmade cards, each one super creative. I could tell the messiest one was Clarissa's, the most neat one was Avery's, and the one without glitter was Aiden's. They also got her crochet boots, pajamas, a sleeping mask, a breakfast tray, and a coffee mug.

Parker and Elliott gave her blue nail polish, crappy cards, homemade cookies, and toilet paper. Their parents gave Mrs. Chase a gift bag with keychains and magnets from different cities, states, and countries.

"Toilet paper?" Annabeth said, raising an eyebrow as Mrs. Chase ripped open the wrapping paper.

"For your everyday needs," Parker said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Your parents let you get this for them?" I asked.

"Actually our parents didn't know we were going to get toilet paper," Elliott said. "They told us to be creative and get gifts for Annabeth's mom using our own money, while they got her another gift."

"It's the thought that counts," Mrs. Chase said, holding back a laugh.

Lilly and Josie got Mrs. Chase something that teenaged girls usually give each other. A flower headband, more nail polish (light pink), silver hoop earrings, and a leather belt. They made one card together.

Mrs. Chase thanked me when she got my gift, although I think she was a little tired of seeing nail polish. She was overjoyed, though, when mom gave her the iPad. All of the kids were itching to touch it, even though they had their own phones, and most probably had iPads too. I was a little annoyed at mom for outdoing the gift that we were supposed to give Mrs. Chase together.

When presents were done, we took pictures. Each family took pictures with Mrs. Chase. Somebody had the idea that the "party committee" should get a picture with Mrs. Chase, so me, Bobby and Matthew, Annabeth, and Mr. Chase hopped in front of the camera.

It was about 8:45 by the time the whole mess of pictures, gifts, and cleaning up the wrapping paper was over. The adults wanted to go home early because it was a school night, but we convinced them to let us stay until the movie was over. With that, the kids went upstairs to Annabeth's room, while the adults stayed downstairs.

Annabeth and I pulled the blankets of the beds over our bodies. We were the only ones sitting in the bed, because Annabeth didn't want anyone to block our view of the TV. The rest sat on beanbag chairs, stuffed animals, or the hammock to the side of the bed. Some were sprawled out on the crowned in front of the TV.

"Annabeth," I whispered.

"Hmm?" she said, as the movie started playing.

"I got a text earlier," I said. "I think it was from Drew."

Annabeth leaned over and peered at my phone screen. "Yep, that's undoubtedly Drew."

"What does she mean by 'I'll do something you will not like'?" I wondered.

Annabeth shrugged. "Tell her you know it's her."

_I know it's you, Drew._

The reply came back two minutes later.

_Why would you think such a thing?_

Annabeth clicked her tongue. "That's definitely Drew. Ask her about the thing that you won't like."

_So, whoever you are, what's that thing you'll do that I won't like? Or are you just babbling your mouth off to scare me?_

Annabeth snorted, and stuck her hand into a bowl of popcorn. "Nice touch at the end."

I nodded.

_Why would I tell you? Keeps you in suspense._

Annabeth grabbed my phone and started to text madly.

_Ok then. How do you know this classified information, whatever it may happen to be?_

The answer came back nearly a second after, as if she had it pretyped because she was expecting us to ask that question.

_A person close to you that you think you can trust, but really, you can't._

Annabeth tossed me my phone. "Leave her on seen."

"A person close to me?" I said, rereading the message. "Who would do that?"

"Jason maybe?" Annabeth said.

"Jason wouldn't do that," I said.

Annabeth snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

All of her cousins turned to stare at her.

"Trying to watch here," Kelsey said.

"Sorry," Annabeth said, more quietly. She turned back to me. "This thing that Drew's blackmailing you about is probably the same thing she's blackmailing Jason about. And if she's blackmailing Jason about it, then Jason probably didn't tell her, or maybe he told her by accident. But probably not, Jason usually doesn't say things he doesn't want to say. So it has to be someone else."

"We can figure it out tomorrow," I said. "Let's just watch the movie for now."

"Bye!" I shouted to no one in particular as I shoved my feet into my boots.

Clarissa ran up to me and hugged my legs. "Bye, Piper!"

I smiled and hugged her back.

"Bye," Avery said. "You should come over to Annabeth's house when me and my family come sometime."

"I'll be sure to do that," I promised.

"See ya, Piper," Elliott said. He turned to Lacy. "Bye, Lacy. Hope to see you again."

Lacy's face turned four different shades of pink. "Bye, Elliott."

I kept in the urge to laugh.

Kelsey just glanced up at me and nodded.

"Bye, Diaper Piper!" Lilly said in a cheerful voice.

"Bye, Lilly," I said. It seems that Lilly had made up a nickname for me.

"See you," Josie said.

When most people said their goodbyes to me, I put my hand on the doorknob, ready to go.

"Wait!" a voice shouted.

I turned around, and saw Aiden running down the stairs.

"Um, I mean..." He cleared his throat and deepened his voice. "Wait. Yeah." He handed me a folded up piece of paper. "Call me, babe."

I gave him a sour face.

"She's taken," Annabeth said.

"And I care because...?" Aiden gave her a blank face.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Never mind."

I rolled my eyes too, and shoved the piece of paper into my pocket. Then, me and Lacy walked to our bikes.

"Are you sure you don't want to put the bikes in the trunk and ride home with me?" Mom called from our car.

"We're good!" I called back.

"I need the exercise!" Lacy said.

I stared at her. "No, you don't. You're skinny, Lace."

Lacy climbed on her bike and shrugged. "That's what people in my school are always saying. They say they're too fat and they need to exercise."

"Well, don't listen to them," I said, swinging my leg over my bike. "You're a third grader. And those kids need to learn a little about self esteem. And stuff that kids usually don't worry about until they're in middle school. And even then, they shouldn't worry about it."

We started to bike towards our house.

"But I thought you're supposed to exercise to stay healthy and fit," Lacy pointed out.

"There's a difference between staying healthy and wanting to look skinny," I said.

Lacy probably didn't enjoy the fact that I was giving her life lessons, but she would need it. I knew she was growing up and other kids her age were trying to act older, because that's how some of the girls in my age acted. I didn't want other little girls' opinions to get to Lacy.

When we got home, I throw off my shoes and ran upstairs. I was tired as heck and needed to get to bed as soon as possible. I slipped into fuzzy pajamas, put on my fuzzy socks, and brushed my teeth. Then, I hopped into bed. I needed to write an entry about today, being so eventful. I mean, there was the break up with Carter, the Zia Rashid thing, the party, the text, Lacy eating pickles, Lacy being consumed by the girls in her school...

After writing for what seemed like forever, I turned off the lights, pulled up my covers, and slept until I overslept.

* * *

**Yup, I know. Not much Jasper in this chapter, but it's ok, there will be a bit in the next. This chapter mostly focused on some of Piper's personality, which I think is really important. It also showed her relationship with Annabeth, and how much she cared about Lacy. Hope you enjoyed, and please review, favorite, and alert! LOVE YOU! ~Jackie**


	25. The Unlucky Day

**Heh. So I just think it's funny how I called this chapter 'The Unlucky Day', but I realized that a lot of Piper's days are unlucky in this story... OH well! Have fun reading, and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 200 REVIEWS ILY ILY ILY ILY ILY SENDING YOU VIRTUAL CUPCAKES! ~Jackie**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

**The Unlucky Day**

"Piper!" a panicky voice called, shattering what was left of my dream. "What are you _doing_?" The voice sounded like it was definitely not one of my parents.

"Annabeth?" I mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"It's not Annabeth!" Something heavy landed on my legs. "It's me! Lacy! You need to wake up!"

My eyes flew opened at how worried the voice sounded. I blinked and saw Lacy standing at the foot of my bed. Her eyebrows were all scrunched up and she was staring at me with concern.

"What?" I said. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get your rump up!" Lacy said. "You're late for school! I woke up a little earlier because I needed to pee, and then I peered into your room because your door was cracked open. When I saw that your backpack was still here, I knew you overslept!"

I groaned and threw the blankets off of my body. "Go back to sleep, Lace. It may be late for me, but it's still early for you."

"No," Lacy said, stubbornly. "I'm going to sit here and watch you so that you get to school on time."

I sighed, stood up, and ran over to the bathroom. Knowing Lacy, she wouldn't give up.

"Fine, but at least turn around so that I can pee!" I shouted.

Lacy turned around while I did my business.

After brushing my teeth, combing my hair, washing my face, I threw on the first things I could find and that were easy to slip into. Those things happened to be black leggings, a white Nike tank that said _Just Do It _in light purple letters, and a light jean jacket, in case I got gold.

I pulled up my hair into a ponytail and swung my backpack onto my back and Lacy followed me downstairs. I hadn't worn just a regular ponytail in forever. Normally, my hair is worn in random braids.

I grabbed a package of pop tarts slipped on my black and white Nike shoes, and ran out the door.

"See you, Lace!" I yelled, on my way to the garage.

"Bye!" Lacy shut the front door.

When I got to the garage, I saw that all three of our cars were gone. Mom and Dad must've needed two of them to go somewhere, and my own car was being repaired.

I cursed. There was no chance I would get to school on time at this rate. I scrambled around, trying to make up my mind. Should I call someone? Should I call for a jet? Okay, that was a stupid idea.

School would start in ten minutes, and biking there would take almost thirty. It was worth a try.

I was about to ran over to the bike shed, when I heard a voice.

"Need a lift?"

I turned and saw Jason in his car, which was parked right outside of the gate. I grinned, ran over, and pressed the button in front of the gate.

"Fingerprint recognized," the gate said. "School starts in nine minutes. You are so screwed, Piper." The gate started to open.

"Oh my gods," I said, opening the door to the passenger seat. "I'm so glad you showed up." I buckled up.

Jason started driving. "You're lucky I did. I was running late too, and Drew didn't want to be late, so she didn't pick me up."

"Knowing Drew, I'd think she wouldn't care about being late," I said.

Jason shrugged. "I guess it's becau-"

His phone rang. Jason pressed the accept button, and Drew's voice blasted through the car's Bluetooth.

"Honey? Are you here yet?"

"No," Jason said, through gritted teeth. "I would've been if you came to pick me up."

"Oh, sweetie," Drew said with a fake apologetic voice. "You're mad about that? I told you, I wanted to-" She paused for a second.

"No, hold on a sec, hon," she said.

"Who's she talking to?" I whispered.

"What was that?" Drew said.

"That was Piper," Jason said with annoyed edge to his voice. "Who were you talking to just now?"

"Oh," Drew said. "My bae. Paris." She sounded unsure. "Yeah, Paris... Hey, why is Dumpster Girl with you?"

Jason gritted his teeth. "She was running late."

"Well," Drew said. I could imagine her flipping her hair. "Make sure you clean that passenger seat after she rides it so that I can ride it later."

I rolled my eyes.

_Don't let her get to you, _Annabeth had advised.

I wouldn't.

"Whatever," Jason said. "Leave me alone so that I don't get into a car crash."

"Okay!" Her voice went from straight out cold to overly cheery. "Love you, babe!"

"Yeah, sure," Jason muttered, hanging up.

Drew was such a bad liar.

"Nice hair," Jason said.

"What?" My hand made its way up to my ponytail. "Oh, that. I was in a rush and didn't have time to braid my hair."

"You look nice," Jason complimented.

"Thanks," I said.

We got to school just as the music started to indicate the one minute warning

_You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset._

Jason and I exchanged glances.

"Not good," Jason said.

_She's going on about something that you said._

We both took off, flying down the hallways. The school usually plays the first verse and chorus of a song, because that would be around one minute.

_'Cause she doesn't get your humor like I do._

Well this was kind of awkward.

_I'm in my room, it's a typical Tuesday night, I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like. She'll never know your story like I do._

I ran faster. We weren't even halfway to the class that Coach Hedge uses for homeroom.

_She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts._

This was actually kind of ironic. This song was almost like it was meant to be for Jason and I. There was me, having this hopeless crush on him. Then there was him, secretly crushing on me, but dating Drew. Then there was Drew who was the overly cocky popular girl.

_She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers. _

Drew was also the captain of the cheerleading squad, most of which are her clones. I, however, was one of the leads in my marching band. I'm planning on quitting next year, though. I figured that I'm good, but it's not my thing.

_Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time._

Jason glanced at me uneasily while we were running. He was obviously also comparing the song to his life.

_If you can see that I'm the one who understands you. _

"We should hurry," Jason said, his worry showing in his voice.

_Been here all along so why can't you see..._

"The one minute mark in the song is almost up!" I said. We were almost there. The classroom would be at the end of this hall.

_You belong with me..._

I forced myself to go faster. We were almost there...

_You belong with me. _

The bell rang. Jason cursed under his breath. He had an almost perfect attendance record. He was barely tardy. I, on the other hand, usually didn't care. I cared about my grades, but not so much my tardiness.

We rushed into the classroom and stayed near the doorway, bending down with our hands on our knees, gasping for breath.

"Late!" Coach Hedge declared. "Drop down and give me twenty!"

"What?" I said.

Jason was already on the floor.

"This doesn't have anything to do with P.E.!" I pointed out.

"Do it, woman!" Leo shouted, from the back of the room. "Quit being such a Beauty Queen."

That got a few laughs from the class. I glared at Leo and reluctantly did my twenty pushups.

"See, that wasn't so bad now, was it?" Coach Hedge said, a smile dancing on his lips.

I sighed and headed to my seat. "No, it wasn't." I sat down and put my head on the desk. This was going to be a long day.

I plunked down at my seat next to Annabeth with my tray of baked potato wedges with cheese, salad, a biscuit, and some apple slices. Today, Annabeth, Rachel, and Calypso had a home lunch, so I stood in the line with Hazel.

The smell of sesame oil came from Annabeth's lunch bag. I inhaled deeply. "What do you have for lunch, Annabeth?"

Annabeth took out two little canisters. "Seaweed salad and Pad Thai." She took out two little containers. "Plus peaches and leftover cake."

I stared at her seaweed salad, hungrily.

She was already starting to scoop out some of it and dumping it onto my tray. "Yes, Piper, you can have some."

Calypso took out her container. "As much as that sounds delicious, I've got pasta salad made from the lettuce and baby tomatoes from my own garden, breaded fish nuggets, mango slices, and homemade marshmallows."

My eyes wandered over to her marshmallows and pasta salad.

Calypso rolled her eyes and gave me two marshmallows. "I mean, you're rich. Shouldn't you at least get your cook to make you something for school?"

I tapped my chin. "I never thought about it. I should ask her, shouldn't I?"

"You think?" Rachel said. "That's what my cook does everyday. But I do like it better when my mom or dad cooks, it feels more homey."

"Me too," I agreed. "My mom's food is really good. We haven't had a real family dinner since a few weeks ago, and the last time we did before that, was in July."

"That's gotta suck," Hazel commented. "My dad cooks almost everyday. If he's busy, then Bianca usually does it. Bianca's a pretty great cook, too."

"My dad _and _my stepmom are pretty great cooks," Annabeth said. "Especially my mom. I mean, we may be pretty rich, but at least my parents aren't so busy to the point that they never have dinner with my brothers and I."

"I'm jelly," Rachel said.

"Same," I said, stabbing my fork into the cold potatoes and dipping it into the chunky cheese. "Sometimes, I feel like this food is poisonous."

Hazel shrugged and took a bite of her own potatoes. "My cheese isn't as chunky as your cheese."

"That is what you call a failed attempt at a homogenous mixture, guys," Annabeth joked.

I snorted.

"I have an announcement to make!"

We all turned to see Drew, standing up, a smug grin stretching across her face.

"Doesn't she always?" Annabeth muttered.

I snorted again.

"First of all," Drew said, putting her hands on her hip. "Who's going to the homecoming game tomorrow?"

Almost everyone raised their hands. I didn't raise my hand, even though I was going.

"Let me rephrase that," Drew said, amusement glinting in her eyes. "Who's actually _cool _and going to the homecoming game?"

A lot of people turned red and tentatively put their hands down.

Drew reached her hand up and pointed at a few people that her majesty approved of. "You, you, you, you, and you. Meet me and my girls at my house today after school. And you," she pointed at a pretty black haired girl sitting with a few popular girls who wasn't raising her hand. "Don't you want to come too?"

Silena Beauregard looked up at her and smirked. "No, thanks."

Drew shrugged. "Your loss. Don't come running to me the next time you want to be part of my group."

"Oh, trust me, she doesn't want to," Rachel said.

"I always thought she was one of Drew's friends," Hazel said, turning back to her lunch. "I guess I just assumed that Drew makes it in her best interest to befriend pretty people."

"Silena finds Drew annoying," Annabeth informed me. "She's actually really nice. Silena, I mean."

Yeah, Silena's really nice. I would know, I'm her second cousin. I don't see her a lot, though. She was an exchange student in France for a few months at a time, meaning she would go for a few months, come back for a few months, and keep returning and leaving. She was now here permanently, that is, until she decided to leave again.

I shrugged and kept eating my cold potatoes.

Drew was sauntering towards us after school with her little buddies.

"Why does she always have to come up to us after school?" I mumbled. "I just want some peace and quiet."

Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Hi, Piper," Drew said in a nice tone, but the hatred showed in her eyes. "I've got some information for you!"

I sighed and shut my locker. "What do you want?"

"I want you to stay away from Jason," Drew said.

"I can't." I shrugged into my jean jacket.

"Why not?" Drew demanded with a murderous glare.

I shrugged. "He's my neighbor."

I heard Paris chuckle.

"I mean it," Drew said, stepping closer. "Stay away from him."

"I think you've made that quite clear." I stepped away from her.

"Or else," Drew said.

"Or else what?" Annabeth challenged.

"Or else I'll spill Piper's little secret," Drew threatened.

"What secret?" I said, cautiously. I was a little scared of what she was going to say, yet curious.

"A secret that my good friend told me," Drew said, smiling cruelly. "Paris, of course. She's so trustworthy."

My jaw dropped. Annabeth's jaw dropped. Paris' eyes widened.

"Drew," she said, through gritted teeth. You could tell that she was trying to speak quietly, but she wasn't doing such a great job. "I thought you said you wouldn't tell her."

Drew flipped her sleek black hair. "Whatever, Paris. You're better off without the Dumpster Girl anyway." She started to walk away, her giggling crew following her.

Only Paris stayed behind.

She fiddled with her curly hair. "Piper, I-"

"No," I said, gently. "I get it. You were friends with Drew first. I don't know what the secret is, but whatever it is, I should've known you would tell Drew. She was your friend before I was."

Annabeth's face was red with anger. Looking at her clamped mouth and clenched hands, I knew she was trying to keep from telling Paris off. She was mad, but I was just disappointed.

"It's not like that," Paris promised.

"Paris!" Drew snapped from the end of the hallway.

Paris' shoulders tensed. "I'll see you guys later." She walked off in Drew's direction.

"I'll see you never," Annabeth remarked. She turned back to me. "I can't believe her! Pretending to be all sweet to us, and pretending to be all supportive towards us. I knew that girl was up to something the moment I saw her with you at the mall! I knew she was planning something all along! I knew she would back stab us eventually! She's still a Drewey deep down, you know."

I shrugged. Why was everything turning against me this week? "That doesn't explain why she kept helping me with Disneyland, and the video..."

"She was just trying to get you to warm up to her," Annabeth concluded. "She didn't do it out of a good heart."

"You shouldn't be too concerned about them," said a voice.

We whirled around and saw Silena smiling at us with her perfect, bright, white teeth. Her big sweatshirt was nearly drowning her. It probably belonged to her boyfriend, Charles. Most people called him by his last name, Beckendorf.

"What?" I said.

"You shouldn't be too concerned about them," Silena repeated.

"What would you know about them?" Annabeth said. The phrase sounded mean, but she meant it in a nice way.

"I heard them talking about 'the secret'," Silena explained. "I was at a movie with Charles, and they were sitting in front of us, talking pretty loudly."

"What was the secret?" I asked, leaning forward eagerly.

"I wasn't very clear on it," Silena admitted. "But I did hear them talk about the store Beautify."

"Maybe you misheard them," I said. "Or maybe they were just planning a shopping trip."

"Maybe," Silena muttered. "Well, I'll just catch up with you guys another time. Charles will get rather impatient if I don't get to his car soon."

"Beckendorf?" Annabeth said.

Silena nodded. "See you later."

"See ya, Silena." I waved as she walked off down the hallway to the doors at the end.

"Bus today?" Annabeth said.

"Unless Jason can give us a lift," I said.

"I heard that Jason is going to Drew's little homecoming dress up thing," Annabeth said. "Drew probably wouldn't enjoy him being late."

"I hate the bus," I grumbled.

Annabeth laughed and nudged me. "Especially since your used to the good, rich moviestar life. Heh. Heh."

I stared at her.

Annabeth stopped nudging me. "No?"

I rolled my eyes and we walked to the bus.

When we got home, I was surprised to see Lacy opening the door for us. She was wearing a fluffy fucshia robe and light pink bunny slippers. Her hands held onto a white mug filled almost to the top with hot chocolate.

Annabeth and I kicked off our shoes.

"Are you okay?" I asked Lacy. I walked into the main kitchen with Annabeth, and Lacy followed.

"I feel cold," Lacy said. "I think I'm sick."

"Well, it is flu season," I said. "Is the robe and hot chocolate helping at all?"

"Yeah," Lacy said. "A little."

I went to our all black Mickey Mouse head cookie jar and picked out a peanut butter cookie. "You should drink some medicine."

Annabeth opened the pantry door and got out a bag of Lay's kettle cooked wasabi and ginger chips. Then, she went to the mini pharmacy we have and got out some grape flavored medicine. "But you should eat something first. Don't drink this on an empty stomach."

Lacy stuck out her tongue. "Blegh. I hate grape medicine."

Annabeth went back to the mini pharmacy. "You've got honeylemon, apple cinnamon, cherry blast…"

"Apple cinnamon, please," Lacy said, sitting down on one of the kitchen island chairs.

I went over to the microwave to warm my milk up. "Are mom and dad going to be home soon?"

"Yeah," Lacy said. "Mom's gonna be home in an hour and a half to take care of me because she thinks you need to go get out of the house more. Dad's coming home right before dinner. We're having a family dinner today!"

"Oh, okay," I said. Then I processed what she just said. "Wait, mom thinks I need to get out of the house?"

Lacy shrugged. "Apparently." Lacy reached over to grab a chip from Annabeth's bag.

Annabeth snatched the bag away. "No way, Lace. You're sick. You're not having any."

"Is cook going to be home?" I asked. Our cook lives in the worker's section of the house. Most of the maids, cooks, and other people like to go home at the end of the day, but a few choose to live here and visit their home during weekends. Cook is one of those people.

Lacy pouted. "Then what can I eat?" Lacy turned to me. "And yes, she will. She usually is. She's just out getting groceries."

Annabeth tossed Lacy an apple. "Eat this."

Lacy tossed it back to her. "No, thanks."

Annabeth tossed her a clementine. "Then eat this."

Lacy tossed it back. "No, thanks."

Annabeth went into our refrigerator and pulled out a plastic box of raspberries. "How about these?"

Lacy nodded eagerly. "That'll do."

Annabeth chuckled and put some of the raspberries into a colander to wash them. "Yes, Your Highness."

Lacy giggled. "Ooh! Can we play princess after this until Mom comes home?"

"Sure thing," I said, taking my cup of milk out of the microwave and setting it onto the island, right beside Lacy. I sat down next to her and dipped my cookie into the milk.

Annabeth finished washing the berries and poured them into a small bowl for Lacy. "Eat up, princess."

Lacy giggled again. "Thanks!"

Twenty minutes later, I stood in front of the electric mirror in my bedroom in a gray short-sleeved skater dress and a white lacy apron The apron came from the maids' wardrobe, and the dress was my own. I had black tights on and my hair was tied up into a neat braided bun.

Annabeth was next to me in a knitted gray skater dress that also had short sleeves. She had on matching tights and a matching apron. The only thing that was different was that her hair was tied up in a ponytail with a black ribbon.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall," I said. The mirror was able to respond to that. It was kind of like Siri. "Who's the fairest of them all?"

"Out of you two?" The mirror spoke, the light along the sides blinking. "Piper McLean."

Annabeth gasped dramatically. "Well, thanks a lot."

"No," I said. "Who's the fairest, say, in this house?"

"You can't really compare a nine year old to a fifteen year old," the mirror answered.

I groaned. "Fine. Who's the _cutest _in this house?"

"Let me think about that," the mirror said. "Lacy McLean."

We had a mirror system in the house. All of the mirrors had cameras wired with them and could see everyone who was in front of a mirror at that time. The mirror also had a device that could scan your face and body structure, and they would be able to tell who you are, if you were entered into the system. It was kind of like entering your fingerprint into your phone, except this was entering your facial and body structure.

There were a lot of people entered into the system. My family of four was entered in it, along with the three out of fifteen workers who live with us, Annabeth, Calypso, Hazel, Rachel, Sadie, and a few of my other cousins and aunts and uncles.

An image of Lacy showed up onto the mirror. We could see her admiring herself. She was wearing a soft pink dress that had a sparkly stop and a tulle bottom that stretched all the way down to the floor. There were sparkly silver desing near the waist and one inch thick straps on her shoulders. A glittery crown sat in her naturally curly hair.

"She looks adorable," Annabeth said.

"Doesn't she always?" I said. "You can go to sleep, just wake up at my call." That was how you got the mirror to turn off.

A minute later, there was a knock at my door, and Lacy stood there, smiling up at us.

"Hello, maids," she said.

Annabeth and I curtsied."Your Highness."

Lacy beamed. "Do you think Elliot would like me in this?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me?"

"She has a little crush on Elliot," I whispered.

"Oh, does she?" Annabeth wiggled her eyebrows.

Lacy blushed.

"Want me to take a picture of this and text it to him?" Annabeth asked, smiling mischievously.

Lacy's eyes widened. "What? I-"

Annabeth pulled out her phone. "Smile!"

Lacy flashed a quick smile.

Annabeth grinned, satsified. "This is so cute!"

Lacy stopped smiling. "Wait, but don't send-"

"Sent!" Annabeth declared.

Lacy groaned. "Great."

Annabeth laughed. "Don't worry, Your Highness, I bet he'll-" Her phone dinged. "Oh, look, he texted back."

Lacy's eyes widened. "Really? What'd he say?"

"He said, 'is that Lacy?'" Annabeth answered.

"What are you going to say?" I asked.

"I just sent him 'Yes' with a winking emoji," Annabeth said.

Lacy groaned again.

"He asked me if I'm with you guys," Annabeth told us. "I'm gonna say yes. Obviously."

"Can we just play now?" Lacy whined.

I smiled. "Whatever you want, Princess Lacy."

I lifted the fancy teacup to my lips and sipped the sweet tea that we had poured into a teapot from a bottle.

"A delightful delicacy," Lacy said, taking hundreds of tiny sips.

"I couldn't agree more, miss," I said.

Lacy giggled. She was apparently full of giggles today.

"Aphrodite McLean," our house announced. "You may enter."

The front door opened and my mom came in.

"Hey girls!" she said cheerily. Then, she noticed Annabeth. "Oh, hey, Annabeth! Do you mind taking Piper for a little stroll? I heard what happened. Piper, dear, you need to get out."

Annabeth nodded.

I stared at my mother, cautiously. "What do you mean you heard what happened?"

"Rumors spread," my mom said, shrugging.

"Yeah," I agreed. "To teens. Not adults. Especially not overly famous adults like you, Mom."

"Point is, I heard about it," Mom said.

"Heard what?" Lacy asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

I glanced at her. _Great going, mother. _

"Nothing, Lace," I said. "Just some stupid drama at my school."

"Let's just go," Annabeth said, shooting me a look.

"Good idea," I said, following Annabeth to the front door and shoving my feet into some Nikes.

It took just a few minutes to get to the park. This park was a really great park. It had two gigantic playgrounds, a lot of benches, and some fields. The place was always getting friendly donations from "rich" people, like my parents. Apparently, rich people wanted their kids to play in a nice looking environment.

We sat on a bench near one of the swing sets.

"How would your mom know about your Jason drama?" Annabeth asked, looking at the kids on the climbing wall.

I shrugged. "Maybe she heard the wrong rumor. Or she's making it up just to get me out of the house. I don't know."

Annabeth squinted at the climbing wall. "Is that her?"

I snorted. "If you mean her as in the climbing wall, then yes, it is her."

"No," Annabeth said. "Her." She pointed past the climbing wall at a girl sitting with her legs crossed on a bench across from us. She was tucking her hair behind her ear, her eyes burning intensely into her book. Her jean shorts were ripped and her white v-neck hugged her body. She was wearing an army green, despite the warm weather. With her brown combat boots, she seemed like she was always expecting someone to attack her.

"Zia," I said.

"Shall we go question her existence?" Annabeth said, a smirk making its way into her face.

"That sounds mean," I said. "But sure."

We started walking towards Zia. When we were three-fourths of the way there, Zia had already noticed us.

"Oh, it's you," she said, closing her books.

"Yeah, it's us," Annabeth said.

I noticed that they were both pretty spunky people.

"Do you need something?" Zia asked in a demanding voice.

"Information," Annabeth said, lifting her chin. "I need information."

"So, smart girl," Zia said. "You're admitting you don't know everything?"

Annabeth clenched her fists.

"Who are you exactly?" I asked, before Annabeth could blow up.

Zia's hard gaze turned to me, making me feel uneasy. "Excuse me?"

"What's up with your whole mysterious girl act?" Annabeth asked.

Zia raised her eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Annabeth said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Zia said with a blank face.

"Why are you all 'I'm oh so mysterious," Annabeth said, in a mocking voice. "But when I wanna say something, I'm gonna say something. And then after I've said what I wanted to say and insulted the most stupid diva in the world, I'm just gonna sit back down, go back to being my overly cautious self, and pretend like nothing ever happened. Oh, and I'm also going to glare at everyone who talks to me, walks past me, or even looks at me.'" She crossed her arms like she was challenging Zia.

Zia stood up and looked Annabeth in the eye. Zia was only about half an inch shorter than Annabeth, so both girls staring at each other murderously was pretty scary.

For some reason, I started to giggle.

Annabeth glanced at me like, _What in the Underworld are you doing? _Then, she went back to her little stare down with Zia.

I started giggling louder.

This time, both of the looked at me for a few seconds, then ignored me.

With every second, I was getting louder and louder. I honestly couldn't figure out what I found funny, but whatever it was, it was probably pretty darn hilarious. Soon, I was basically rolling on the ground, chortling my sides out. People around me probably thought I was the Mad Hatter.

Annabeth started to crack a smile first. She avoided looking at me, but I could tell she could see me out of the corner of her eye, and she could also hear me. She tried to hide her smile by clamping her mouth shut and clenching her jaw, but after a minute, she started losing it. She bent down at her waist and started holding her sides. Annabeth wasn't really a loud laugher, she was more of a silent one. Her shoulders were shaking because of it.

At first, Zia just stared at us, not comprehending our complicatedness. She cocked her head to the side and scrunched up her eyebrows. Soon, though, she started to suck in her cheeks. At first, I wasn't sure why she was doing it, but then, I realized she was trying to keep from laughing. Later, she just started chuckling. She covered her mouth and shook with laughter.

Whoever said laughter isn't contagious is wrong.

Parents just gave us polite smiles and shuffled their kids away as they walked by us, but little kids pointed at us and laughed or talked about us. Teenagers just glanced at us with no interest, but a few just kind of looked at us like we were pretty weird. I was pretty sure that one random person put us on their Snapchat story.

We actually pretty much stopped laughing at one point, for just about seven seconds. Then, we looked around at each other and burst end into laughter again.

My laughter started dying first. I got up, still giggling a bit, and sat on the bench, waiting for Annabeth and Zia to stop laughing.

"Why did you start laughing?" Annabeth asked, when she finally stopped.

"I honestly don't know," I said, starting to laugh a little. "I just thought it was funny how you-" I paused to gasp for air. "And Zia-" I was having a weird problem with laughing now. "You were weirdly staring-" I started laughing again.

Zia crossed her arms. "That's what you think was funny?"

"Well, yeah, I think." I looked at Annabeth for support. "Didn't you?"

Annabeth stared at me skeptically. "Sure."

I looked back at Zia. "See?"

Zia smirked and shook her head. "I guess I've misjudged you."

"What?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean?" I sang, snorting. I was starting to sound like my good friend Leo.

They ignored me.

"I thought that you guys were also one of those girls who tried to get attention," Zia said. "Especially after the big break up with Carter that you announced at lunch."

"Well, gee, thanks," Annabeth said, sarcastically.

"We were just trying to get it to everyone's head that we weren't dating anymore," I explained.

"Weren't you never even dating?" Zia questioned.

That caught me by surprise.

"What?" I started rambling. "Of course we were always dating. What did you think? Did you think that we just pretended to date just so that u could say I have a boyfriend? Or to get attention? Or to pretend that I don't care about Jason?" I clamped my hand over my mouth when the last sentence came out.

Zia's suspicious glare turned into a soft gaze. "Well, yeah, that's kind of what I thought. Except for the last part. I didn't know that you-"

"She doesn't," Annabeth interrupted. "She does care about Jason whatsoever." She turned to me. "Am I right?"

I nodded weakly. "Right."

Zia didn't look so convinced. "Well, the point is, I was wrong to judge you, okay? And believe me, I don't usually say that a lot."

"You don't usually say you're wrong a lot?" Annabeth said.

Zia gritted her teeth. "That's what I said."

Annabeth flipped her hair. "I'm never wrong."

"But you admitted you don't know everything," Zia shot back.

"I didn't say I know everything," Annabeth said, calmly. "I'm just never wrong."

"That doesn't make sense," Zia said.

"That's because you don't have a complicated mind like I do," Annabeth said.

Zia huffed. "Maybe you're not the attention whores I thought you were. But you do have quite an ego."

Annabeth's eyebrows shot up to the sky. "What did you just say to me?"

This wasn't good.

"Annabeth-" I said.

"No, no, no," Annabeth said, pointing an accusing finger at Zia. "She just told me I have a big ego."

"You don't," I said. "You just think highly of yourself."

Annabeth knew that. She knew that she thought highly of herself, she knew that she thought she could one day rule the world, and she was proud of it, too. But she never, ever says she has a big ego. _Ever._

_"_Yes," Annabeth said, not getting the least bit offended. "I do. But I don't have a big ego."

I leaned over to Zia and started whispering. "The first thing you need to know before becoming Annabeth's friend is that she does _not _have a big ego."

Zia nodded, but Annabeth gave me a double take.

"Who said she as going to be our friend?" Annabeth snapped.

Zia clenched her jaw.

"This is why you have no friends, isn't it?" Annabeth said. "It's why you sit with no one at lunch. Because you judge people without ever talking to them, and when you do, you're not at all friendly."

"Annabeth, I think that's enough," I said, frantically.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's just leave her to be alone for the rest of her life."

"Annabeth!" I scolded.

Zia narrowed her eyes at us. "No, she's right. You should both just leave. It would make my life way more peaceful."

"We will!" Annabeth turned around. "Come on, Piper. Let's go. We should've never come over here anyway."

Annabeth dragged me away. I turned my head around just for a second to give Zia an apologetic glance. She just shrugged and waved me off.

"Ungrateful, annoying, egoistic," Annabeth muttered.

"I don't think she was that bad," I said.

Annabeth looked at me and sighed as we sat back onto our bench. "Of course you don't. That's because you're nice to everyone except Drew."

Huh. Maybe Annabeth was right. Maybe I was too nice. Maybe I should note forgiven Jason. Maybe I should've taken revenge on Drew earlier. Maybe...

"Come help me set up the table!" I heard Mom call from the kitchen downstairs.

I was sitting on my bed reading Shakespeare for my English class. Annabeth sat at my desk, her face serious with concentration as she did her Science work. Science wasn't hard for Annabeth, but she almost always had a serious expression when she did her homework.

I got up and threw one of my throw pillows at Annabeth. "Let's go, Annabeth."

"Let me finish this problem..." Annabeth scribble something down, and closed her textbook. "Easy as climbing up a climbing wall with lava pouring from the top."

"Excuse me?" I said. Only someone like Annabeth would think that was easy.

"Don't you remember me telling you?" Annabeth said. We got up and started walking to the door. "My school used to do this big challenge for Track and Field. The wall was outside, and you could practice on it all year long. When Track and Field week comes, warm water dyed red will spew out of the top while you climb. Whoever wins gets a big trophy and a big bag of marshmallows. I always won. Percy was a close second, though, when he came."

We were almost down the stairs now.

"I don't think you ever told me about that," I said. "Is that even legal? What kind of school would do that?"

"Fun schools," Annabeth said with a grin.

We got to the kitchen. Mom was standing by the stove, and Lacy was putting out plates into the table. Dad wasn't there.

"Where's dad?" I asked, getting out forks.

"He'll be here," Mom assured me.

"But he's already supposed to be here," I protested.

"He'll be here, darling," Mom said.

_I highly doubt that._

Ten minutes later, me, Annabeth, Lacy, and Mom were seated at the table with steak, potato wedges, and homemade salad on our plates. Mini bowls of tomato soup sat to the side of our plates, and our drinks were on the other side.

"Dad's still not home," I pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah," Lacy said. "Dad said he'd be home by now."

Mom's phone started ringing.

"I betcha that's him," Annabeth whispered.

Mom picked up. "Hello?" Pause. "Yes, dear, I know it's you." Another pause. Mom raised her eyebrows. "Can't make it? What do you mean _can't make it?_" Mom turned to us. "You guys, just go ahead and eat."

All of our eyes were on my mom as she headed out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, well how are you going to explain that to the kids, huh?" Mom's voice was slowly fading away. "Hey, I had things to do too, but I got out of them because my kids are more important." She was no longer audible.

We all glanced around at each other.

"Dad ditched us again," Lacy said a quiet voice.

Yeah, he did. After the never hanging out with us, he just had to ditch us again. I was pretty mad, though I was pretty used to it. The difference was that this time, he actually got my hopes up.

I tried to sound calm. "I know, I know Lace. It's okay. We don't need Dad to have a great dinner."

Lacy's lip trembled. "You're right, Piper. Who needs dads anyway?"

I nodded.

The rest of dinner was spent in silence, with the faint sound of Mom arguing with Dad upstairs.

_October 27_

_UGH! I am so pissed off with my dad._

_Well, I guess I should start with the beginning of my day, shouldn't I? Okay, I will._

_So, I was late for school today. That's no surprise, I often oversleep. BUt today I overslept later than I usually overslept. I was about to drive myself to school (that was the only way I would be able to get to school on time), but all three cars were gone. MOm was using her car, Dad was using his, and my car was going to get fixed. So, unfortunately, I had no option._

_When I saw that my car was missing, my first thought was to call for a jet, but then I realized that that was stupid. I mean, why would a jet come just to get me to school on time? Not only was that unreasonable, but it would definitely give away my being invisible to the school._

_My second thought was to get my bike and ride that to school. But then I thought about it, and it would take almost thirty minutes to get to school on my bike._

_Luckily, Jason came right when I was in a frenzy thinking of what to do. I obviously accepted his offer, or else I would've been really late. He was running late too, and Drew apparently didn't want to come pick him up because she "didn't want to be late". That's not like Drew at all._

_Well, I ended up tardy anyway. Like came to homeroom a second after the bell rang. I'm so unlucky._

_Anyway, Annabeth and I found Zia in the park today. I went to the park because Mom thought I needed to get out of the house. She apparently knows about what's going on in my life. How could she possibly know about my Jason issue? She probably didn't even know._

_Okay. Back to Zia. We found her in the park reading. Annabeth had this brilliant idea that we should go and talk to her. Let's just say it didn't go very well and Annabeth now has this new hate for Zia. And Zia pretty much hates Annabeth too, so at least it's mutual._

_Before the whole Zia thing, Lacy told me that Dad had promised to go home for our first family dinner in weeks. BUt he didn't show up when it was time to set the table. And he didn't show up when we were about to start eating._

_Mom got a phone call while we were waiting for Dad. And yes, the phone call was from Dad. He said that he wouldn't be able to make it apparently. They started arguing. I don't think it was that bad of an argument, because Mom hates arguing. She's all for world peace and all that unrealistic stuff._

_I. Absolutely. Hate. Dad._

_-Piper McLean_

**Bet you're all mad at Paris right now. And possibly Tristan, if you care enough. Anywaaay... don't worry, everything will be alright. Tune in for the next update ;) ~Jackie**


	26. The Game

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I had a bunch of wedding business going on... Hope you enjoy this chappie! **

* * *

Chapter 25

The Game

"Homecoming day!" Annabeth shouted at the top of her lungs when I got to school. A few people turned to see what the shouting was about, but when they saw that it was just us being excited, they probably decided it was normal. Everyone's always excited for homecoming.

"Yep!" I said. "Is my war paint smudged?"

"Nope," Annabeth said, inspecting me. "It's perfecto."

I grinned. I was wearing white jeans, a blue Goode sweatshirt, and a white and blue bandana around my forehead. I had drawn on blue war paint with the blue eyeliner that I found in my mom's makeup dresser. Annabeth as wearing the exact same thing as me.

"Except for one thing," Annabeth said.

I stopped grinning. "What?"

Annabeth pulled out a little jar of glitter. "Glitter!" She stuck the tip of her finger and tapped her finger onto my war paint . She did the same to herself. "How's the band doing?"

"Pretty good," I said. "I think I'm gonna quit band next year. I know I've been doing it for a few years, but I don't think it's my thing."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "So is acting your thing? Or designing?"

I rolled my eyes. "None."

"Psychologist?" Annabeth tried. "You seem to be good at talking people into things."

"Nah." I shrugged. "That's just a talent I have."

"Babe!" A a familiar happy voice squealed.

I turned to see Drew scampering down the hall towards Jason, her minions following close behind her.

"Apparently, it's a talent Drew has too," Annabeth commented.

"Huh?" I said turning back to her. "How?"

"It's how she gets Jason to keep getting back with her," Annabeth said. "And now she got her Dreweys."

I nodded. "Makes sense. But what about the whole blackmail bit?"

"You really think that's true?" Annabeth said.

"Well, yeah," I said. "Jason's a good guy. He wouldn't just keep getting back together with someone like Drew."

"Guess that makes sense," Annabeth said. We started walking towards my homeroom. "I'm coming to your house today after school. We can, like, get ready together."

"That's fine," I said. "I've gotta get to the game an hour earlier though, so that I can squeeze in one last rehearsal for the band."

Annabeth nodded. "Maybe when you retire from lead, I can become lead."

I laughed. "You're not even in marching band."

"I can join," Annabeth said.

"You have to have been in the band for at least one year to be band leader," I told her.

Annabeth winked. "I can make things flexible."

We got to my homeroom.

"See you later," I said, punching her arm lightly.

"See you, brat," she said, smiling.

I was sure lucky to have a bestfriend like Annabeth.

...

"Piper!" Jason was running down the hallway to me in his blue football uniform and black war paint.

It was finally the end of school, which was the best part of the day. I couldn't wait for my band to slay at the Homecoming game. I was probably not going to the dance, though. I was going to have a big test the following Monday, so I would need to study. Besides, I didn't even have a dress.

Annabeth said she would go with Percy, but she assumed they were going as friends. Apparently, Percy was a super awkward person and didn't take dates very seriously. He was probably not the best at romance.

Jason, though, on the other hand, was probably the best person at romance. He was, in my opinion, even more romantic than my dad. He might've been even better than my own mother, who is the gushiest the person I know.

"Need something?" I said, a joking smirk making its way onto my face.

"Yes," he said, without panting, even though he had just ran the length of that hallway. "Stay with me for practice?"

Annabeth, who was standing behind me the whole time, pushed me back and stood in front of me. "No. She has no interest in doing something that is meant for your _girlfriend _to do."

Jason ignored her and looked past her at me. "So, Piper? What do you say? Want to come with? You'll get a first look at the game and a good seat." He winked.

"No," I said, casually. "I'm good?"

Jason's eyebrows shot up to Mount Olympus. "What?"

"You heard her," Annabeth said. "She said, 'no.'"

"But why?" Jason asked, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"I have to get ready with Annabeth," I said. "Also, I have a band rehearsal."

Jason frowned. "Oh. Okay. Right. See you later then." He walked back to the direction he had come from.

"Sheesh," Annabeth muttered as he got smaller and smaller.

I shrugged, closed my locker, and straightened my bandana. "What are you wearing for Homecoming tomorrow again?" We started walking to the buses.

"Just one of my mom's old dresses," Annabeth said.

"Which mom?" I said.

"My real mom," Annabeth said, her voice softening. "She had closet full of dresses, apparently. There's this black mermaid dress in there that I thought would be pretty appropriate for Homecoming. It's beautiful. I bet my mother looked beautiful in it." She smiled at the last part.

"I bet she did," I said, comforting Annabeth.

"I've tried it on before," Annabeth said. Now, we were already outside, almost to the bus. "I feel like her in it. My dad cried when he saw me in it."

"I think you should go out and buy a new dress," I suggested. While it seemed sweet that Annabeth would wear her mom's old dress, I felt like she needed to open up a little and feel more comfortable with everything. It would be even better to wear one of her mom's old dresses at prom.

Annabeth shrugged. "I wouldn't even have time." We boarded the bus and sat in a seat near the front.

"Yes, you would!" I said, overly excited for some reason. I think it was because I had expected her to just say a straight out "no", but instead, she just stated a reason why she couldn't. And it wasn't even a good reason. "I could help you! Tomorrow morning, I can drive to your house and pick you up. The, we can go to the mall for a quick shopping trip!"

"I don't know..." Annabeth said. The bus started its engine.

"Yes!" I said. "We are going to the mall tomorrow morning, and that's final!" I stomped my foot to make a point.

Annabeth eyed my foot quizzically, then looked back up at me. "Well, you are the daughter of Aphrodite McLean. I wouldn't expect you not to be like this."

I groaned. That sort of ruined my mood, but not by much. "I'm just like this for now. I usually gag at the idea of shopping for dresses. But this is for a good cause, so it's all cool."

"We've been to the mall ten times for, like, the past month," Annabeth said. That was actually sort of true.

"It doesn't hurt to go another time," I said. It did kind of hurt, though, but I obviously wasn't going to say that.

"Fine, McLean," Annabeth said. "I know you're not going to give up. You never do with these type of things."

I cocked my head to the side. "And I give up with other types of things?"

Annabeth scoffed. "Of course."

I put my hand over my heart in mock offense. "Excuse me?"

Annabeth smirked. "You heard me."

I playfully punched her. "You idiot."

We got to my house after about fifteen minutes. Lacy wasn't home yet, so I would have to pick her up later. Mom wasn't home either, and neither was Dad. No surprise there.

I got out two pumpkin muffins and two glasses of milk for our little snack. Annabeth took a seat at one of the kitchen island chairs and started spinning herself around.

The home phone that sat on a kitchen counter started ringing.

"I'll get it!" I shouted, putting all the stuff that I was holding back onto the counter. I rushed over to the phone and grabbed it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Piper," said a little voice that belonged to Lacy. "I'm on the classroom's phone right now."

"Hello, Lacy," I said. "Why are you calling from your classroom's phone?" She was such a cutie.

"I wanted to tell you something!" Lacy squealed. "Well, actually, I had to. My teacher made me. But I also wanted to tell you it."

"What is it you want to tell me?" I asked, a little troubled. Was Lacy in trouble? Lacy never got in trouble. It just wasn't her.

"I got a ride home!" Lacy exclaimed.

"What?" I said. What did she mean? Just for today? From who?

"The school sorted out my situation," Lacy said. "Now, they've assigned me a bus!"

"That's great," I said, relieved. I was pretty busy today and I was getting tired of driving Lacy everyday since I got my permit.

"Are you going to miss driving me?" Lacy asked.

I instantly felt guilty for thinking my last thought. "Yes, of course Lacy. I'll drive you occasionally. At least once every... three weeks."

"Yay!" Lacy cried.

"Yup," I said, tilting my head so that my phone would fit in between my ear and my shoulder. I picked up the two glasses of milk and set them on the kitchen island. "Is that all?"

"I think so," Lacy said. I walked back over to the counter with the muffins and picked them up.

"Okay," I said, walking over to the kitchen island. "See you later, alligator."

Lacy giggled. "In a while, crocodile."

I hung up and put the phone back where it belonged.

"Lacy?" Annabeth guessed, munching on her muffin.

"Yep," I said, taking a seat next to her.

"Don't you need to pick her up later?" Annabeth said, sipping some of her milk.

"Nope." I took a bite into my muffin happily. "Her school arranged a bus to come pick her up before school and drop her off after school. Now I don't have to waste almost an hour of driving back and forth each day."

Annabeth took a thoughtful bite. "I still can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" I said, gulping down some milk.

"The thing about Paris," Annabeth said. "That traitor. I can't believe she would actually do that to you. I knew she was still a Drewey!"

I sighed. "Just drop it. We don't need her. And besides, I get it. I would pretend to be someone else's friend for you too, Annabeth."

"But you wouldn't backstab them like that," Annabeth said. "Not if you knew what was going on with them. And Paris knew exactly what was going on with you."

"Yeah, I'm mad too," I agreed. "But I really think we should take it easy on her."

Annabeth didn't say anything. She just kept eating her muffin and drinking her milk.

When we were done with our snack, we went upstairs to my room to get ready for the homecoming game.

"So," Annabeth said, sitting on the edge of my bed. "What are we going to do?"

"I've got an idea," I said, going into my closet.

Annabeth got off the bed and followed me. "What is it?"

I got out two white short sleeved shirts and set them out on my bed. "You'll see."

Annabeth shrugged and sat back on the bed next to the shirts.

I went downstairs to the mini art studio we have and got out some spray paint. It wasn't really spray paint, so much as spray sparkle. We had lots of colors, but I chose blue and silver. It was like sticky sparkles packed into a spray can.

I came back upstairs and held up the cans. "Sparkles!"

"So we'll just spray our shirts with sparkles?" Annabeth said.

"Kind of," I said. "We'll make a stencil of lightening and spray it on the stencil on top of the shirt." Our school's mascot was Lightning. We were the Goode Lightning. "But the sparkles smell like really horrible chemicals, so we'll do this outside. We can also lightly spray our bandanas. And wear regular dark blue jeans." Annabeth was taller than me, so she had mini closet in our house because she spent so much time here.

"Sounds good," Annabeth said.

Thirty minutes later, we had cut out two stencils. One was a stencil of a lightning bolt, and one was a stencil of our graduation year. We were going to put the lightning bolt on the front of our shirts, and our graduation year on the back.

That was also when Lacy happened to come home. When she did, I prepared her a snack of pumpkin muffins and warm milk. She happily talked about her school day and her first bus ride, aside from field trips.

After Lacy's little snack, we sent her up to her room to do her little third grade elementary school homework, which wouldn't take longer than fifteen minutes. While she did that, Annabeth brought the stencils, two large pieces of poster paper, and silver sparkles out to our patio. I carried our T-shirts and bandanas in one arm, and held the blue sparkle spray bottle in the opposite hand.

"So how are we going to do this?" Annabeth asked.

"Simple," I said. "We put the stencils on the shirt. Then, we spray the blue sparkles onto it. After blur sparkles, we lightly spray on the silver sparkles so that it's mostly blue, but with some silver sparkles. Then we just lightly spray our bandanas with silver."

Annabeth nodded.

I layer out my white T-shirt onto one of the poster papers and set the lightning bolt stencil on the front of the shirt. I shook the spray bottle and sprayed on the shirt. While I was doing that, Annabeth was lightly spraying her bandana with silver sparkles.

"Are you done with that?" I asked, implying to the silver sparkles spray bottle.

"Hold on..." Annabeth sprayed her bandana a little bit more. She tossed it at me. "Done."

I caught it and tossed her the blue sparkle spray bottle. "Start off with the numbers on the back. I'm still using the lightning bolt."

Annabeth nodded and placed the number stencil on the back of her shirt.

I kept the lightning bolt in its place and shook the silver sparkle spray bottle. Then I sprayed the shirt lightly. When I took off the stencil, the shirt looked pretty cool. It was just a regular white T-shirt, but now, right in the middle, sat a sparkly blue and silver lightning bolt.

"Done with the blue?" I asked, holding out my hand.

"Yep," Annabeth tossed me the blue. She held out her hand for the silver. I gave it to her.

"Done with the stencil?" I asked.

"Nope," she said. She lightly sprayed the silver onto her shirt. "Now I am."

"Okay," I said, getting up. "Before we do the other side of our shirts, we need to blow dry the side that we just sprayed. You don't have to dry your bandana right now, but you can if you want."

"I'll just do it later," Annabeth said, following me back into the house.

"You can use my blow dryer," I said. "Go get it. You know where it is. I can just use Lacy's."

Annabeth nodded and we both ran up the set of stairs on the right. Annabeth went to my room at the end of the hall, and I knocked on Lacy's door.

"Yes, Piper?" Lacy called. I could hear her rushing over to the door. She opened it.

"Can I borrow your blow dryer?" I asked.

"Sure!" She ran to her bathroom. A few seconds later, she came back with her blow dryer. "Here you go!"

As I received the blow dryer from Lacy, Annabeth appeared beside me holding my own blow dryer. I thanked Lacy, and left her to finish her homework. Then we went back to the patio.

I blow dryer the front if my shirt while Annabeth blow dryer the back of we finished, Annabeth started blow drying her bandana, and I started working on the back of my shirt.

I flipped my shirt over so that the front with the lightning bolt was face down in the poster paper. Then, I placed the stencil with my graduation year on it on the back of my shirt. I sprayed the blue sparkles on it, then lightly sprayed on some silver sparkles. By then, Annabeth was done blow drying her bandana.

"I'll blow dry my bandana while you work in your shirt," I said. "Then we can blow dry our shirts together."

Annabeth nodded, she already knew what to do.

When we were done with all the spraying and blow drying, we went to my room and put on the shirts and tied the bandanas around our foreheads.

"We look good," Annabeth said, admiring herself in my mirror.

"We do," I said. My hair was in its usual style. Choppy and braided in random places. Even though it was the same as always, I would call it a good hair day today.

Annabeth's hair was perfect, as usual. Her naturally curly hair sprung out from her head in perfect, blond ringlets. Despite wearing the bandana, her hair still had lots of volume. With her war paint, she looked even more fierce than she would on a regular day.

"I'm going to need to change into my band uniform when it's halftime," I said. "Then I'll change out of it after halftime."

"We can eat dinner in thirty minutes," Annabeth said. "Just a light dinner, so we can eat more at the game. Then, we'll leave for your band practice. After your practice, meet me at the bleachers."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

...

I scanned the bleachers for my friends. There, on the fourth row, Annabeth was standing up and waving at me. She was sitting with Calypso, Hazel, and Rachel. I smiled back and made my way to her.

Calypso looked as pretty as always. She had on a layered white lace shirt. She, too, had on a blue bandana which was wrapped around her long hair that was braided to a side. My favorite part of her outfit was her cute lightning bolt earrings.

Rachel's outfit was simple, but full of spirit. She wore a blue Goode Lightning sweatshirt with black leggings. Blue war paint was swiped across her cheeks. Her bright red curls sprang from her white bandana, which was tied around her head.

Hazel looked really cute, especially because she was younger than me by two years. She wore white jeans with a blue and white crewneck sweater. Her hair was tied up into a braided ponytail which was secured by two white hair bands.

"Guys!" I exclaimed, hugging all of them. "You came!"

"Of course," Calypso said. "It's one of the biggest events of the year."

Rachel nodded. "I literally demanded my parents to bring me here."

"Look who's coming towards us," Hazel said, jutting her chin towards the field.

Jason, in full football gear, was heading to where we were. He pushed through the crowd and finally managed to make his way up to our row in the bleachers.

"Guys!" He grinned, spitting out his mouth guard. "You look great."

"Jason," I said. "You look, um, football-ish. Are you nervous?"

Jason shrugged. "It's kind of my thing. I don't get nervous."

"It's also my thing." A big, buff guy with his football helmet on appeared right next to Jason. He took off his helmet.

"Frank!" Hazel cried, her cheeks coloring.

"Hazel," Frank said, scratching the back of his neck. "Glad you could make it."

While they continued to talk, Jason talked to me.

"Planning a big show for halftime?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," I said. "We're going to only play a few songs though. Gotta give time for the cheerleaders, and announce Homecoming Queen and King of course."

Jason winked. "You'll do great. I have to go now, the game starts in ten minutes. Coach will not be happy to see that I'm late."

I winked back. "Oh, I know."

When Jason left, my friends and I took a bunch of pictures of ourselves. We also asked a few other people around us to take pictures of us too. Overall, they turned out great.

A few minutes into the game, Percy bounded over to us, probably to flirt with Annabeth.

"Hey, guys!" He said, taking a seat on the bleachers in front of us.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

Calypso gave him a small smile.

Hazel gave Percy a fist bump.

"Hi, Percy," I said.

"Piper!" Percy said. "You're wearing the exact same thing as Annabeth..."

"Um, yep," I said. It was pretty obvious.

"Twinning!" Percy squealed.

Annabeth laughed. "Whatever, Percy. I'm assuming you came over here because you want me to get you something to eat?"

Percy's eyes lit up. "Would you?" He made a puppy face that resembled a cute seal.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Why not?"

"YES!" Percy jumped up and pumped his fists into the air. He grabbed Annabeth's hand and pulled her up. "A hot dog, maybe? Pizza? Coke?" He gasped. "Blue coke?"

Annabeth followed him to the food stand while he endlessly chattered about what to get.

Calypso smiled and shook her head.

Hazel nudged her. "Oooh. Is somebody _jealous?_"

Calypso rolled her eyes.

"Trust me," Rachel said. "You don't want to be jealous of Annabeth's guy. Been there, done that."

"I hardly call him 'Annabeth's guy,'" I said. "He's just like this guy who annoys her and she has a small crush on him."

"Right," Calypso muttered.

"Piper!" A cheery voice shouted over the voices of the crowd.

"It's Paris," Calypso whispered.

"Noted," I said.

A few seconds later, I could see Paris pushing her way through the crowd. Her long hair was tied up into a ponytail with a big blue bow. She had on a cheerleading uniform that had a pretty short skirt. It wasn't as short as other ones I had seen before, but it was still pretty short. Crisp white tennis shoes enclosed her feet.

"Piper!" Paris repeated when she got to us. She was literally bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Hi, Paris," I said. "Having fun still being friends with Drew?"

A wave of guilt rolled across Paris' face, but she quickly covered it up with a bright smile. "I'm sorry, Piper. It didn't happen like that, I've got to tell you what really did happen."

"That's what Jason told Piper," Rachel said, coldly. "And he didn't have a great excuse."

"But I bet I do," Paris said. "Here, I'll tell you-"

"Paris!" A singsongy voice cried. "Come here bae!"

"Coming!" Paris called. She turned back to us. "I'll tell you later, I promise. I have a great explanation."

"Yeah, right," I whispered as she bounded away.

"You don't need that weird go lucky child," Rachel said. "She's still Drew's friend no matter what. She just wants to be popular."

"She already is," I said. "So why would she need Drew?"

"She'd be more popular if she hung out with Drew," Hazel pointed out.

"She could hang out with Silena," Calypso said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Silena's pretty popular."

"Silena's what?" Silena was making her way over to us.

"What's up with so many people coming over to us?" Hazel whispered at me.

"No idea," I whispered back, shrugging.

"Oh," Calypso said. "Look, there's another one." She pointed to a smiling face in the crowd.

Hazel flinched when she saw Leo. I don't know what that was supposed to be about. Maybe she just twitched. Like her whole body.

"Whazzup, guys?" Leo grinned.

I laughed. "You sound drunk, Leo."

Leo laughed back. "Drunk off of coke, baby!" He held up a can of coke. Then, his tone turned serious. "Are you okay? How are you coping with everything?"

I smiled and shook my head. "You make it sound like I just moved."

"Yeah," Leo said. "That's because you did. Just _moved on."_ He bursted out into laughter.

I stared at him. Hazel stared at him. Rachel stared at him. Calypso stared at him.

"Haha!" He looked around at each of us. "No?" His laughter weakened, but he was still laughing. "No? Calypso?"

Calypso gave him a weird face.

"No?" He was giggling. "Nobody?" He stopped. "Gosh, girls these days don't have a sense of humor."

I snorted.

A few minutes later, Annabeth came back with Percy. Percy was holding a plastic cup of coke and a plate of super cheesy pizza. Annabeth had a little box of powdered donuts in one hand, and fries in the other.

"This is all Percy's," Annabeth said, shaking her head in amusement.

Percy held up his coke. "They actually had blud food dye there! So when I asked if they had blue cup, they were more than happy to give me some!"

"Actually, they seemed kind of annoyed," Annabeth said. "But when you said you'd pay them extra, then they were happy."

Percy pouted. "You ruined the story, Annabeth."

Annabeth set down the donuts and fries onto the bleachers. "You know, you have to share this stuff with me. I bought like half of this stuff because you ran out of money."

"Yeah, but I said I'd pay you back," Percy whined.

"And now you can pay me back by letting me eat some of this," Annabeth suggested. It sounded more like a demand than a suggest.

"Fine," Percy said, hanging his head.

Percy was such a dork. He was cute and squishy looking, but nothing compared to Jason. Speaking of which...

"Jason just scored a touchdown!" I shouted. "Go number one!"

"Did you just tell Jason to go pee?" Leo scrunched his eyebrows.

"Um, no," I said. "His number is number one."

"His number is pee," Percy added.

Leo gave him a high-five.

Annabeth and I sighed.

"So annoying," Calypso muttered.

"Annoyingly awesome," Leo finished.

I rolled my eyes. "In your dreams, Leo."

Leo nodded. "Yeah, and I'm living that dream!"

By the time it was a few minutes before halftime, we were winning by just a few points. Most of the points scored were by Jason, Frank, and Dylan, but mostly Jason and Frank. Hazel and I happily cheered them on.

"All band and orchestra members," a voice said over the speakers. "Please make your way down to the band and orchestra rooms. Cheerleaders, get down to the field."

"That's my cue," I said, standing up. "See you guys later."

"See you, Beauty Queen!" Leo chirped.

Everyone else just waved at me and smiled.

I ran to the main doors of the school. I only had a few minutes to change and squeeze in a little practice time.

When I got to the music wing, I went to the wardrobe where they kept all of the band suits. I reached my hand in, grabbed mine, and rushed to a changing room. I got a few greetings while on my way, which was a little awkward, considering I was about to change.

I changed into my blue and gold band suit, hung my regular clothes up in the wardrobe, and ran to the band room. Half the people were there.

I clapped my hands. "Alright guys, listen up. We're going to have to start practicing right now. Others can join in as they come in."

Everyone nodded. This had better be good.

...

The band was perfectly on point today, and that wasn't something I said a lot. There were a few squeaks here and there, but otherwise, it was perfect.

The cheerleaders were performing now, and I was sitting on the bleachers with my band mates. We were all changed out, but the band teacher wouldn't let us go back to our old seats until the cheerleaders were done performing.

Drew was a flyer and so was Paris. She was wearing a super short skirt, even shorter than Paris'. Her hair was up into a ponytail, with some of her side bangs hanging down. She was currently standing on two people's hands one with foot, holding her other foot in the air next to her head, and opening her mouth, shouting a cheer.

_She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts. She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers._

"Goooo Goode Lightning!" The flyers tumbled down from where they were standing and landed on the ground with their hands up in the air, shaking around their pom-poms. "Let's strike!"

The crowd roared and the cheerleaders waved around their pom-poms while flashing a bunch of smiles.

_Finally! _I got up and ran over to where my friends were.

"Beauty Queen!" Leo called, waving me over. "You guys were great!"

I sat down next to Leo. "Thanks. It was boring, though, watching the cheerleaders."

"They were okay," Calypso said. "But I've seen better."

"Drew sucked," Rachel commented.

"Drew was actually pretty good," Leo said.

"Shut up," Rachel said, shooting him a glare. "I hate her, she sucks. She sucks because I hate her."

"She sucks only because you hate her?" Leo said with amusement.

Rachel groaned.

"Isn't that Jason down there?" Annabeth said, changing the topic.

"He looks like he's looking for someone," Percy said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

Before I could protest, Percy was standing up, waving his arms around, and shouting.

"Jason!" Percy yelled.

Jason whirled around, confused, trying to figure out who was calling his name.

"Jason!" Percy yelled again. "Bro!"

When Jason spotted Percy, he looked rather relieved. It took a couple of seconds for him to reach us, but when he did, he looked really happy.

"Hey, guys." Jason give Percy those handshake things that guys usually give each other in the halls. Then he looked at me. "Hey, Piper!"

I smiled. "Hi, Jason."

Jason tried to come in for a hug.

I pushed him away. "Ew, gross. Sweaty."

Jason ran his hands through his wet hair. "Well, what can I say?"

I fake gagged and pointed at his gleaming forehead.

He laughed and wiped his forehead with his arm. Then he shoved it into my personal space bubble.

"Jason!" I squeaked, waving him away, slightly disgusted. Did guys really sweat this much?

Frank Zhang appeared right next to Jason, his forehead just as shiny, his hair just as wet.

Apparently guys _did _really sweat that much.

"Frank, you were great!" Hazel said, jumping up. "I would hug you, but you know..." She blushed and looked down at her feet.

Frank smiled. "Uh, Hazel?"

Hazel looked up. "Yes, Frank?"

"Would you like me to buy you something?" Frank asked.

Hazel grinned. "You don't have to."

"I want to," Frank insisted. "Let's go." He started walking away.

Hazel got up and scurried after him.

"Aw," Calypso gushed. "That's so romantic."

"I'm a pretty romantic person, too," Leo said.

Calypso groaned.

"Stop bothering her, Leo," I said.

"I'm just stating facts," Leo defended himself. "It's true. I mean, I'm, like, super romantic. Don't you think, Beauty Queen?"

"Just because you call me Beauty Queen doesn't make you sound more romantic," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Then who do you think is the most romantic person you know?" Leo said, smirking.

_Jason. _

_"_My mother is overly romantic," I said.

A mixture of groans, sighs, eye rolls, and face palms came from my group of friends.

"Who's the most romantic _guy _you know?" Leo adjusted his question.

_Jason. _

"Uh, probably my dad." This was so overwhelming.

The groans, eye rolls, face palms, and sighs were repeated.

"Who's the most romantic _teenager _you know?" Percy asked. He was clearly on Leo's side.

_Jason._

"Augustus Waters," I said, laughing.

"Who's the most romantic _real _teenaged guy you know?" Annabeth said with a teasing smile.

_Jason. _

"I don't know," I said. "Frank was being romantic awhile ago."

"Who's the most romantic real _blond _teenaged guy you know?" Calypso asked. Oh great. She was in on it too.

By now, Jason had already suspected the direction in which my friends were going with this. He put his face in his hands.

"Oh," I said, "I don't know many blond teenage guys, but maybe Annabeth's cousin, Malcom? He might be romantic."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No, he's actually not. He sucks at romance, I'm surprised he's actually dated anyone."

"Let's get to the point already," Leo said, exasperated. "Who's the most romantic real blond teenaged guy _named Jason Grace _do you know?"

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" I fought the urge to laugh. "Well, that would be my dear friend, the blond Jason Grace."

Jason laughed. "Thanks, my dear friend, the brunette Piper McLean."

"You guys were _so _meant for each other," Calypso said, dreamily.

"Yeah," Rachel agreed. "Too bad you're dating Rachel. I say you dump her ass right now."

Jason let out a pained sigh. "I can't."

"I don't get you Jason," Annabeth said, her voice suddenly hardening. "You act like you're so strong, so confident. Yet you're scared of speaking your heart."

Jason shook his head silently.

"That sounds like something you would find on a greeting card," Leo said, breaking the ice. "Or an Adele song."

Jason ignored him. "You don't get it, Annabeth. I would tell you, but I can't."

"Why are you so scared?" Annabeth said.

"Annabeth..." Percy warned.

"No, it's fine," Jason said, waving him off. "I deserve to be questioned. I mean, Piper is the greatest girl living on this earth, and I hurt her. I get why her best friend would hate me."

"But you had a reason," Percy insisted.

"But I could've fought it in the beginning," Jason said in a pained voice. "Now, it's too late. One wrong move now, and Piper's life could be ruined."

I bit my lip. "Excuse me? I knew Drew was blackmailing you, but this is _life threatening? _I didn't know Drew was that bad."

Jason shook his head. "I wouldn't say it's actually life threatening, but it would ruin your social life."

I scoffed. "My _social _life? This is all this is about?" I suddenly felt mad. Worked up. There was a hurricane inside of me now. He was afraid of _ruining my social life_? I don't even have one, what more could I lose?

I stood up and looked him in the eye. "You're afraid of _ruining my social life?" _

Jason stepped back. "Whoa, Piper, I-"

I stepped forward and pointed at his chest. "I don't even have a social life! I don't have anything to lose! I thought all along that this was about something bigger! But social life? You just want to protect my social life? Gods, you're so shallow!" Tears were welling up in my eyes.

People were starting to turn and look at us.

"Piper, you don't understand," Jason said, quietly. "This part of your social life is important to you. I'm not shallow, Piper. I know this is important to you. I know you, and I know you wouldn't want this secret of yours to get out."

I stood there silently. I didn't want to say anything, I would probably burst into tears. My throat was tight and my eyes were watery.

_Don't cry, whatever you do, don't cry. You're stronger than this. You will let nobody, I repeat, nobody, see you cry._

Jason took a step forward. "I-"

I pushed him away gently. "No, Jason." My throat was burning. "Don't. Just go."

"Please," Jason said.

"Jason," Annabeth said. "If you want to keep being friends with Piper, I suggest you leave so she can cool down."

Jason nodded. "I'm sorry, Piper. Please don't be mad at me again.

I wasn't mad, just upset. Annabeth was right. If I kept on getting mad at him, our friendship would end right now.

I took a deep breath. "I'm not mad, Jason. But you should go play right now, okay? I'm not mad."

Jason nodded, but he looked unconvinced. "Okay. Bye. Wish me luck."

"Good luck!" Percy cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

I sat back down next to Annabeth and huffed.

A few minutes later, Frank came back with Hazel. Hazel was holding a Goode Lightning snapback in one hand and fries in the other. After returning Hazel, Frank went back to the field to get ready for the second half of the game.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a voice said over the speaker. I looked down at the field and saw Mr. Chiron with a microphone.

Everyone around me was still talking.

Mr. Chiron cleared his throat. People kept talking.

Coach Hedge, who was standing next to Mr. Chiron, grabbed the microphone. "Shut up, people!"

A hush fell over the crowd.

Mr. Chiron took back the microphone. "Uh, thank you, Coach Hedge. Anyway, it is now time to announce Homecoming Queen and King!"

Everyone cheered and screamed with delight.

"Settle down," Mr. Chiron said. "Now, Ms. Dodds, please hand me the results."

Ms. Does walked over to Mr. Chiron and said something to him.

"What?" Mr. Chiron said. "It's been postponed?"

A gasp came from everyone. People started protesting loudly.

"Calm down, everyone," Mr. Chiron said. "We will announce the Queen and King on the actual day of the Homecoming dance."

Everyone groaned, especially Drew. Her face reddened and she started shouting. Probably something like, "this isn't fair! How could it be postponed? Everyone knows it's going to be me! Me!"

Watching her struggle was so fun.

...

"Whoo!" Percy shouted. "Go, Jason! Yes, nailed it! Come on, go for the win!"

The timer was slowly running out of time. If Jason made this touchdown, we would win the Homecoming game.

Percy was right. Jason was nailing it. He was in front of almost everyone, except for this one guy on the other team. The guy was pretty scrawny, hopelessly trying to shove himself at Jason. Jason shrugged him off like a bug and made the last touchdown needed to win.

"YES!" Percy jumped up into the air. "YES!"

"WOOT!" Leo screamed. "GO PEE!"

People turned around to stare, but turned back around once they realized it was just Leo.

The whole field was in a frenzy. The scrawny boy on the other team sat down and cried. His teammates got down on their knees and punched the ground. Some of them just shrugged.

Our team was a different stories. All of the football players huddled up and hoisted a grinning Jason up onto their shoulders. Even though I was mad at him, I was smiling like a mad person. I was proud of him.

The cheerleaders were squealing and jumping up and down. They were waving their pom-poms around, hugging each other, and hugging the football players. Drew was busy making out with a football player.

Wait.

_Drew is making out with Dylan!_

I gasped and looked back at Jason, who was still on his teammates' shoulders. But now, he wasn't smiling. He was looking in Drew's direction and he had a very disappointed look on his face.

"No," I whispered.

"What?" Annabeth said.

I pointed at Jason. "Look."

All of my friend's eyes trailed over to Jason. They followed his gaze, and their eyes widened.

"That dirty, no good bitch!" Rachel shouted. She pulled up her sleeves. "Okay, when I am done with her, she isn't even going to look good even _with _makeup."

Jason's mouth was moving like he was shouting something. His teammates put them down and continued to chatter excitedly. Jason, however, was not one bit excited.

He stalked over to Drew and pushed Dylan away from her. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but they were definitely having an argument.

I shook my head. I knew Drew hung out with Dylan a lot, I just never would've thought that she would cheat on Jason with him. I guess Jason's suspicions about her were right.

* * *

**Whew... Lots of drama in that one, huh? Some questions: Why do you think they postponed the Queen and King? How does Jason feel?**

**Anyway, we're starting to get to the end of this book, I can probably count all the remaining chapters with one hand! But don't worry, the demigod crew will make another appearance in my upcoming Percabeth sequel, Everything Has Changed. No, it's not out yet, but it will be once You Belong With Me is over. HAVE A GREAT DAY! ~Jackie**


	27. Author's Note 2

**Hey guys! This is just an author's note. My next chapter might take a little long to write, don't worry, I am not abandoning it :) There's going to be a lot happening in this chapter, so yeah... Have a great day! ~Jackie**


	28. The Homecoming Dance

**Hey guys! Been a ****long time since I've updated :/ But I mean this chapter was pretty hard to write. Well... Only about 1-3 more chapters left! I love you guys so much! ~Jackie**

* * *

Chapter 26

The Homecoming Dance

I flopped face-first onto my bed when I got home. Who knew a football game could be so exhausting and full of unnecessary drama?

Lacy was already asleep. My mom was in her room, probably watching a movie. Dad wasn't home yet. Surprise, surprise.

I had to drive all of my friends home when the game ended, which took a while. The worst part was that I would have to wake up kind of early tomorrow to go to the mall with Annabeth, because I had insisted to.

So, yeah, it was late. But I needed to write in my journal. I could not wait until tomorrow. By then, I'd probably forget what had happened today.

I took out my journal and began to write.

_October 28_

_Today was a rather eventful day. Then again, everyday has been an eventful day, at least for these past few weeks._

_Okay, so the game was today. The Homecoming game, one of the biggest events of the year. It started off great, you know, my friends and I just enjoying the game alone._

_Percy and Annabeth had some cute moments, but I doubt Percy even thought of them as cute. Don't get me wrong, Percy is a great guy, but he can be totally oblivious of the girls who like him._

_Hazel and Frank were pretty cute too. I'm sure Frank, unlike Percy, was aware that Hazel had a tiny crush on him. Based on what I've been observing, Frank likes Hazel back. Hazel was a little doubtful though, because what kind of a 16 year old would date a 13 (almost 14) year old?_

_Paris tried to talk to me, but I payed her little attention. She deserves it, right?_

_During halftime, the band was awesome. We made no mistakes, unless you count the few squeaks here and there. The cheerleaders were pretty great, too. Drew had the spotlight, as always._

_The amazing night took a turn when Jason came along. He talked more about the blackmail stuff, and it turns out, he's dating Drew to protect my social life! I mean I thought he knew me enough to know that I don't care about my social life. But I guess not. I got kind of upset with him, but I didn't want to ruin his day. So, I just let him think that I wasn't mad at him._

_Jason got back out and played. He scored the winning touchdown, but something ruined it all. Drew was spotted making out with Dylan. I knew they hung out a lot, but I didn't actually think..._

_I don't know. I don't know anymore..._

_So... The Homecoming dance is tomorrow. I'm not going. Nobody asked me, and if I wanted to go with my friends, I don't have a dress. And I also have to study... Although I could study on Sunday..._

_No. I'm not going to the dance, and nobody can convince me._

_-Piper McLean_

...

I sat down in a kitchen island chair and took a bite of my instant maple oatmeal. It was the quickest breakfast I could find that actually tasted good.

Annabeth had already called twice to rush me, and it was only ten in the morning. Okay, fine, it was actually almost twelve, but you get my point.

"Hurry up, Piper," Lacy rushed me. Earlier this morning, I had promised that she could come with to see Annabeth quote on quote, "as a princess."

I gulped down some more oatmeal. "I'm trying." I glanced over at her bowl. "How did you already finish?"

"It's called using time wisely," Lacy said.

I laughed. "Fine. Let's go. I'll finish the rest on the car. Somehow."

Lacy cheered and rushed to her shoe closet. I did the same.

Today, I was wearing easy shopping clothes. My hair was up. I was wearing black leggings, a dark blue floral shirt, and a long white cardigan. The perfect shoes to go with this outfit would be... Light brown leather flats!

Lacy rushed down the stairs. She was wearing a really similar outfit to me, which made we want to laugh. She had her hair up, wore black leggings, a white lace shirt, and a dark blue floral cardigan like thing, but it was made of floaty, light fabric. Instead of my light brown leather flats, she wore light brown uggs.

The car ride to Annabeth's house took less than five minutes. On the way there, I would randomly scoop the oatmeal into my mouth with my right hand, and keep driving with my left.

We pulled up to Annabeth's driveway and got out of the car.

"Come on, Lacy," I said, holding out my hand to her.

We walked up to the front door of Annabeth's house.

"Can I do it this time?" Lacy asked.

"Sure," I said.

Mr. Chase had invented a door that would open on its own if you knocked the secret knock that he made up. The man was always coming up with cool inventions, and Lacy found the door very entertaining.

She knocked the secret knock and the door opened.

Once inside, I yelled, "We're here!"

I heard footsteps coming to the door. When I saw Annabeth, I gawked.

Annabeth had her hair up, as usual. But what amazed me was that she was wearing a lace white shirt, a long light brown cardigan, black leggings, and navy blue flats with a floral design.

"What?" Annabeth said, examining herself, as if looking for a stain. "What? What are you staring at?"

"Your outfit," I said.

She examined herself again. Then, she examined Lacy and I. "Oh!" She laughed. "We're all corresponding!"

I laughed back. "We should take a picture."

Lacy pouted. "Pictures? Ugh, not again. Why do you guys like pictures so much?"

"Memories," Annabeth said, amused.

After asking Annabeth's mom to take a few pictures of us, we rushed off to the mall. It didn't take long to get there, maybe just ten to fifteen minutes.

Parking the car was what took kind of long. Lots of people, like us, were probably going last minute shopping or getting their hair and makeup done for Homecoming. Other people were probably buying Thanksgiving gifts. Really early Thanksgiving gifts.

Finally, we got a parking spot when somebody pulled out of their spot. Who would think anybody would be done shopping at eleven?

The first store we went to was Beautify. As I've mentioned, Beautify sells everything, not to brag. But my mom's store is pretty amazing.

"This is so pretty!" Lacy squealed, pointing at a puffy light pink dress.

"I don't think that's Annabeth's style," I said, smiling.

"It's not," Annabeth said.

I spotted a short emerald green dress with straps and layers of tulle. The waste was studded with diamonds.

"Oh my gods, Annabeth!" I cried. "This is totally your style. Actually, it looks kind of familiar..."

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know, Piper, it doesn't look like something I would wear."

"Oh, but trust me," I said. "It would look so good... I just know... I don't know why, but I just know."

Annabeth looked uneasy. "It doesn't look like me."

"I think it does," Lacy said.

"See?" I said. "Totally you."

I heard a laugh behind us. "And how do you expect to pay for that?"

We whirled around, and found that worker that I saw the day of Lacy's birthday party. What was her name again?

"Reyna," I said. "Hi."

Reyna's eyes widened. "Oh, hey, Piper! I didn't realize it was you. I just like poking fun of people who don't have enough money with them to buy expensive things."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You know her?"

"Yeah," I said. "She helped me out in Lacy's birthday party."

Annabeth nodded.

"So," Reyna said. "Homecoming shopping? I already did that."

"It's last minute," I said. "Do you know of any dresses that might be my friend's style."

Reyna studied Annabeth for a moment. "I think the green dress that you guys were eyeing would look perfect on her. But if it doesn't, which probably won't happen, I have a few edgy dresses she could try."

"Let's go to the dressing room, then!" I squealed, taking the dress from the rack. I swear to the Underworld, that dress looked super familiar.

The dressing rooms were catwalk styled. Mom said she tried to make everyone look and feel as beautiful as they want, and a catwalk styled dressing room was a perfect thing to do so.

Annabeth entered one of the changing rooms and started to change.

My phone rang. I checked the caller ID. It was Leo.

"What does he want?" I muttered, smiling.

I picked up.

"Hey, Beauty Queen!" Leo's voice blared through the speaker of my phone.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I feel so loved, Piper," Leo said.

"Leo," I warned. "I'm in the middle of a very important business right now. I need you to get to the point. "

"So," Leo said. "If you're in the middle of a very important business, I'm assuming you can't go to the mall with us?"

"Actually," I said. "The very important business is the mall. And what do you mean by us? Who's us?"

"Me, Jason, and Percy," Leo said. "Frank isn't going; he doesn't have a date. Jason and Percy are buying stuff for their dates."

"Date?" I repeated. "Jason? Date? But I thought that what happened at the game last night..."

I could imagine Leo shrugging. "I know right? I tried to talk him out of continuing to date her, but he wouldn't listen."

I frowned. "Okay. Whatever. We can meet up later if you want."

"Sure," Leo said. "Kay, have fun being all girly with Annabeth!"

"Shut up, Valdez," I said.

Leo was about to say something, but I hung up on him.

I heard the creak of the door to Annabeth's changing room, and my head snapped up. Annabeth stood there, giving me a half smile.

She looked absolutely stunning. The dress fell just above her knees, and the top hugged her body perfectly. There was just something off about the straps...

I walked over to her and slid the straps down so that they weren't on her shoulders, but they were hugging her arms. "The straps are supposed to be down here, not up there."

Annabeth stared at me. "How do you know?"

I thought about it for a moment. "I don't know..."

"It does look more right, though," Reyna said.

"I think so too!" Lacy said.

It reminded me of the dress I was designing a couple of months ago. It was an emerald green dress with straps that...

"I designed this dress!" I exclaimed.

Annabeth stared at me. "What?"

I nodded. "My mom, me, and Lacy were doing this mother-daughter night where we designed clothes and other stuff. Don't you remember, Lace?"

Lacy nodded.

"I designed this dress!" I said. "I was imagining what would look good with you, and emerald green came to my mind! So from there, I just designed a dress that I thought would look great on you, and it does!"

"You did an amazing job, Piper." Annabeth threw her arms around me. "Do you think white Converse high tops would look good with these? I don't want to be too fancy, I still want to be myself."

"I think high tops would look great," I said, truthfully.

"Well," Reyna said. "I suppose since you designed the dress, you would be able to get it for free? That's what Aphrodite would want."

"Yes," I said. "Thank you. Mom always gave me the stuff I designed for free. I think maybe she just forgot to give me this one when it was made."

"Yeah," Reyna said, nodding. "The shipment of these dresses actually just came a week ago."

We all started making our way out of the catwalk changing rooms and to the cashier counter.

Reyna cut off the tag and gave me a receipt. "Here you go. Have fun at the dance, hope to see you there."

"Actually," I said. "I'm not going."

Reyna raised her eyebrow. "You're not? I would think someone like you would..."

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "You were saying?"

Reyna shook her head. "Never mind."

Lacy pouted. "Don't question my sister's existence."

Reyna scrunched up her eyebrows.

I laughed. "She's not questioning my existence, Lace."

Lacy shrugged. "Can we go now?"

"No," I said. "We need to find accessories."

Lacy groaned.

"You can help," Annabeth offered.

Lacy's face brightened up. "Okay! So..." Lacy reached over to the counter next to her. "Diamonds? Pearls?"

Annabeth laughed, gently. Her personality was so different with Lacy than with other people. "Slow down, Lace." She examined the diamond necklace and matching bracelet that Lacy was holding up. "Oh, but those are the ."

"They'll go perfectly with your new dress," I said.

Annabeth nodded and stared at the necklace like she was in a trance. "But I can't buy them. They're too expensive. My dad may be rich, but you know, I have an allowance."

I smiled. "Don't worry, I've got it covered." I whipped out my credit card from the wallet that was tucked inside a pocket of my cardigan.

Annabeth sighed and shook her head. "Piper..."

"No, no, no," I said. "Stop right there."

Reyna was watching with amusement.

"We're sisters, Annabeth," I said. "I've always got you covered. I'm pretty sure that you'd let your sister pay for you if you had one."

"Yeah!" Lacy piped up. "I let my sister buy things for me!" She paused. "Wait. If you're Piper's sister, and I'm also Piper's sister..." Her face brightened up. "Then by the Transitive Property, you're my sister, Annabeth!"

Annabeth laughed and patted Lacy's head. "I sure am." She turned to me. "Okay, fine. But the next time we go shopping together, I'm the one who is going to buy you something."

I shrugged. "Fine by me. That means you're buying the bear costume for Halloween."

"Okay," Annabeth said. "Wait! I've got an idea! For Halloween, we can be-"

"Can we not discuss this right now?" Reyna said. She was leaning on the counter and drumming her fingertips against it, she looked super bored.

I nodded. "Reyna's right. We should get the necklace and bracelet, and then go get your hair and nails done."

Annabeth stared at me. "Accessories, hair, and nails? Piper, you're spoiling me. You really shouldn't."

"Sisters, remember?" I said.

Annabeth sighed. "Okay, fine."

"So can I scan your stuff now?" Reyna asked.

I nodded and handed the necklace and bracelet to her.

She scanned them and put them in a bag with the dress while I swiped my credit card and signed my name.

"Okay," Reyna said. "Now, have fun at the dance! Please don't think of anything else to buy here because I'm getting tired of your weirdness."

I smiled. "Bye, Reyna!"

"See you at the dance!" Annabeth shouted.

"Bye, bye nice teenager person!" Lacy yelled as we exited the store.

"So," Annabeth said. "What's the plan?"

I thought for a moment. "We can go get your nails done and then get lunch. After lunch, we can go to your house and start working on your hair."

Annabeth nodded. "Got it."

Thirty minutes later, Lacy and I were sitting in one of the little waiting chairs. The Beautify bag with Annabeth's dress and accessories was sitting next to me. Annabeth was getting her French nails done. It would only take about fifteen more minutes.

"Hey Beauty Queen!"

Lacy squealed and I jumped up in surprise. My phone flew out of my hand and into the air. I stood frozen in shock as it flew past a smiling Leo, a confused Percy, and landed right in the palm of Jason's hand.

Jason grinned. "Looking for something?"

I snatched it away from him and glared at Leo. "Leo! You almost broke my phone!"

Leo shrugged. "Meh. Technically, it wasn't me. You had such bad reflexes that you threw your phone in the air. I mean, who does that?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "A lot of people do that, thank you very much." I noticed Percy leaning over and peering at the shopping bag. "Percy, what in the Underworld are you doing?"

Percy looked sheepish. "I wanted to see the color of Annabeth's dress."

"Why?" I asked, even though I already had a sneaking suspicion. He probably wanted his tie to match her dress.

"I want my tie to match her dress," Percy admitted.

I nodded and smiled mischievously. "Emerald green."

Percy gave me a double take. "I'm a guy."

I nodded, slowly. "Yes, yes you are, Perseus Jackson."

"Do you think I know what the Hades emerald green looks like?" Percy asked, throwing his hands in the air.

"It's a green," I said, slowly. "And it's the color of emeralds."

Percy thought for a second, then realization hit him in the gut. "Ohhhhh." He tapped his head. "I knew that. I'm just, you know, slow today because of all the Homecoming dance stress. Also, I have a swim meet on-"

I rolled my eyes. "I get it, Percy."

Leo whistled. "Talk about love sick."

"Shut up," Percy growled.

I laughed. "You shouldn't be embarrassed. You should actually be proud. Annabeth would kick your butt if she found out you were embarrassed about liking her."

Percy turned red. "I don't like her."

"Denial," I sang.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna go now, so I'll catch up with you guys later. Come on, Leo. Jason." Percy turned to leave.

"Percy?" Annabeth called, walking towards us with her nails done in the ever so simple but elegant French nails.

Percy stopped and turned around. "Ohhhhh. Heeeyyyy Annnaaaabethhhh."

Annabeth smirked. "Heeeeeyyyy Peerrrrcyyyyyy."

"Heh," Percy said. "Are you ready for tonight?"

"Almost," Annabeth said. She turned to the whole group. "Do you guys want to go grab lunch?"

Percy cheered. "Food court?"

Leo pumped his fist in the air. "You bet!"

...

I sat down with my tray of food. I had gotten a six inch Subway sandwich, kettle cooked jalapeño chips, fruit punch Fanta, and a little fruit cup.

Jason and I were the first ones back from getting our food. He had gotten some pizza with Percy and Leo, but Percy had stayed back, trying to get them to give him blue Coke. Leo stayed behind to help Percy apparently. Good old Leo.

"So," I said, sipping my Fanta. "All ready for Homecoming?"

Jason nodded and bit into his pizza. "You?"

I shrugged. I was not going to go, but I didn't want to say anything. Knowing Jason, he'd really push me to go.

"Is Drew all ready?" I asked.

"I think she got ready, like, a month ago," Jason said, chuckling.

"Do you know what she's wearing?" I asked, unwrapping my sandwich.

Jason rolled his eyes like he was tired of hearing this topic. "Of course I do. It's red. She made sure I knew. She reminds me about eleven times a day, on average."

I looked at him weird and stopped unwrapping my sandwich.

"Yes," Jason said. "Yes, I count. There was this one time she told me twenty-six times." His voice went high pitched as he tried to mock Drew. "'It's a hot, bright red dress that hugs my body and goes to my mid thigh. There are slits in the sides that shows my skin. I look super sexy in it, trust me. Oh! And remember, buy a matching tie!'" He rolled his eyes again.

I laughed. "That sounds exasperating. I feel bad for you."

Jason sighed. "Having girlfriends can sometimes result in a lot struggles. And I mean a lot."

"I've noticed," I said, taking a bite into my sandwich.

He popped some Doritos into his mouth. "Are you going with anyone?"

I shrugged again and quietly sipped my Fanta. It was time to change the topic. "So, football..."

Jason grinned. "Yes? What about football?"

"Are you glad about the win?" I asked.

"Yeah, definitely," Jason said, continuing to eat his pizza. "But your band was so great during halftime! You guys were amazing."

I shook my head. "Thanks, but really, you guys were so awesome! You totally beat the other team up! Especially that last touchdown. It must've felt great being carried off the field like that."

Jason's face fell. "Yeah, that part was great, but what I saw when I was being carried was not great."

I wiped my hands and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm really, really sorry about what happened."

Jason shrugged. "I mean, c'est la vie, right?"

I pursed my lips. "Yeah. I guess."

He shook his head. "She thinks I'm stupid. She claims that Dylan made the first move. She claims that Dylan just came up and kissed her. But I saw it, Piper. I saw her arms around his neck, her hands tangled in his hair. The kiss lasted forever. All Dylan was doing was holding her by the waist and grabbing her butt. I'm sure she could've broken away if she wanted to." He shook his head again. "She thinks I'm dumb enough to believe her."

I took my hand off his shoulder and started eating some of my chips. "You really shouldn't let her push you around like that. You're a human being. She can't just push you like that. You know, she's not the boss of the world. Don't let her control you."

Jason gently turned my head towards him so he could look me in the eye. "But I have to, Pipes. You'll find out."

I sighed and turned away. "But when?"

"Soon." Jason said.

We continued to nibble on our food.

Annabeth came over. "Well, well." She set her tray down next to me. "Did you two have a nice, long talk?"

"Why, yes," I said, eating my sandwich. "Yes, we did."

"Good kids," Annabeth said, patting my head. She sat down and ate some of her salad.

Percy and Leo came over shortly with pouts on their faces.

"Stupid Domino's," Percy said. "What kind of pizza place doesn't have blue food dye?"

"Normal pizza places," I said.

Leo threw his hands up in the air. "That's what the employees said!"

Annabeth sighed. "Percy and Leo both need psychologists."

I smirked. "I noticed."

After finishing our lunch, the boys continued looking for ties and flowers. Annabeth and I drove to her house so that we could start working on her hair.

"So," I said, examining Annabeth's hair. Annabeth was sitting in a chair in front of her vanity mirror and I was standing behind her. "Up or down?"

"What?" Annabeth said.

"Do you want your hair down or in an updo?" I asked, making myself more clear.

"Up," Annabeth said. "I always have my hair up."

"That's why you need to change it," I pointed out. I reached into her hair and took out her hair binder.

"What? No," Annabeth protested.

"Yes," I corrected. "You have to keep your hair down. You'll love it. I promise."

"Then why did you give me a choice in the first place," Annabeth grumbled.

"It was a rhetorical question," I said. "I didn't need you to answer."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "So what are you going to do?"

"It's a secret," I said. I was going to curl her hair in thick but loose curls and braid some of her hair so it would wrap loosely around her head like a wreath.

Annabeth sighed. "Okay, whatever. Make it quick."

"You can't rush perfection," I said.

"You really are Aphrodite McLean's daughter," Annabeth teased.

"Just when it comes to dressing my best friend up for the night of her life," I said.

"This isn't my wedding," Annabeth said.

"Oh," I said, plugging in the curler. "So you admit you are going to get married?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, having a husband might distract me from my inventions."

"Oh my gods, Annabeth," I said, shaking my head and putting down the curler to wait for it to warm.

"It's true," Annabeth said. "Love is just a distraction."

"Not true," I said. "Love is much more than a distraction."

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "It is much more than just a distraction."

I felt smug. "See?"

"It's a big distraction," Annabeth said.

I sighed. "I may not be all mushy gushy about love, but love is pretty important and it is most definitely not a distraction."

"I was right," Annabeth said. "You're not only the child of Aphrodite McLean, you're the child of Aphrodite herself."

I groaned. "Ew. Never."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Do I hear a denial?"

I nodded. "Yes." I picked up the curler and started curling her hair.

"My hair is already curly," Annabeth commented.

"But it's not the kind of curls I want for this hairstyle," I said.

"I've never felt so insulted," Annabeth said.

"Suck it up," I said, continuing to curl her hair.

In fifteen minutes, her hair was curled and ready for braiding.

"How much time do we have?" I asked.

"It's two," Annabeth replied.

"Okay, great," I said. "We still have time until Percy comes to pick you up for dinner." I started braiding some of her hair.

"Where is he taking me?" Annabeth asked.

I shrugged. "How should I know?"

Annabeth shrugged too.

"Stop moving!" I squealed.

"Sorry," Annabeth said.

I finished the braid and wrapped it around her head. Then I loosened it up so it wouldn't look so tight. I stepped back and admired my work.

"Hmmm," I muttered. "Still needs something."

"What?" Annabeth said. "What does it need?"

"Hold on," I said. "I'm heading my house. I'll be right back."

Annabeth nodded.

I ran to the car and rushed to my house. When I was there, I said hi to Lacy, ran up to my mom's room and grabbed tiny sparkly jeweled flowers that she puts in my hair sometimes at parties. I ran back down the stairs, said bye to Lacy, and drove back to Annabeth's house. Lacy was probably super confused.

"I've got some hair accessories!" I shouted as I kicked off my flats.

"Good for you!" Annabeth shouted back.

I ran back into Annabeth's room and held up the bag of little jeweled flowers. "These are perfect for your hairdo."

"Let's just get this over with," Annabeth said.

I placed the cute little flowers in her braid at random, scattered spots. Soon her braid looked like it was filled with sparkly snowflakes.

"It's so cute!" I said.

Annabeth turned her head at different angles to see. "Where? What? I can't see. I want to see."

I took out my phone and took the picture of the back of her hair on snapchat. I showed her.

"Huh," Annabeth said. "It actually is really pretty. Thanks."

I nodded and put the picture on my story.

"It's 3:16," Annabeth said. "Now what?"

"Not sure," I said. "We could just hang out until 5:30, then put your dress on. Percy's coming at 6:00."

Annabeth nodded. "This is going to be great. Hopefully."

...

"Oh my gods, Annabeth!" I shrieked. "It's perfecto! It's the definition of beauty. You look so good! You're welcome!"

Annabeth smiled. She really did look stunning, but still fierce, just like she wanted to look like.

Mrs. Chase came down and started tearing up. "Annabeth, darling! You look beautiful!" She sniffed. "Let me go upstairs and get my camera. And your dad. And your brothers."

A few seconds later, Mrs. Chase came down followed by Annabeth's dad, Bobby, and Matthew.

"Annabeth," her dad said. "Wow, Piper really dressed you up."

"You look pretty!" Matthew shouted,

"I think you look super pretty!" Bobby said.

Annabeth patted their heads. "Thanks, guys."

Mrs. Chase snapped a few pictures of me and Annabeth. Then, I took pictures of Annabeth with her family. That was when the doorbell rang.

"Is that that Percy boy?" Mr. Chase said, as he walked over to get the door.

Annabeth nodded. "Probably."

Mr. Chase opened the door. I could see part of Percy, and it looked like he was wearing a tuxedo.

"Hello, Percy," Mr. Chase said, in a welcoming voice. "Come on in."

When Percy came in, I could see that he was wearing a tuxedo with an emerald green tie. He looked pretty itchy and uncomfortable, but at least he made an effort.

His eyes popped out when he saw Annabeth. "Annabeth. Wow. This is... Wow. This is different." His eyes wandered down to her sneakers. "Oh, but that's not different."

Annabeth laughed and looked him over. "Wow, but you look different too, Percy. A tux? Who would've thought that Percy Jackson would wear a tux? And the matching tie? Who told you about my dress?"

Percy flipped his hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, the tux is different. And itchy, but whatever. And it was Piper who told me. She was mean about it."

"Was not," I protested.

Annabeth smiled and hugged me. "Well, thank you, anyway, whether or not you were mean about it."

Mrs. Chase took a few pictures of Percy and Annabeth. Percy had gotten Annabeth a corsage and she was now wearing it. I had to admit, it really pulled the outfit together.

I pushed Annabeth and Percy out the door when Mrs. Chase was done taking pictures. "You have fun, you kids."

Percy grinned. "Thanks, Piper. I owe you."

I nodded. "Yes, you do."

Annabeth laughed. "Okay, let's go Percy."

Percy took Annabeth's hand, and together, they walked out the door.

"Are they going as a couple?" Mr. Chase wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I don't even think Annabeth knows."

Mrs. Chase wiped away a tear. "They grow up so fast."

I nodded. "I gotta get home now to study. Bye, Mr. Chase, bye Mrs. Chase."

"Bye, Piper!" Bobby and Matthew sang.

"Bye, guys!" I waved.

The ride home was short. When I came home, Lacy and my mom were home. Dad was out again. I had gotten used to this, but I was still upset about it.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and study," I announced, running up the stairs.

"Okay, honey!" Mom yelled back.

I came into my room and changed out of my mall clothes. I slipped on a black oversized T-shirt, old, faded skinny jeans, and put on my glasses. My contact lenses were bothering me at the moment, so it'd be better to put on glasses. I pulled up my hair and started studying.

Not five minutes after I started studying, I heard a knock outside. My ears perked up. Jason! We hadn't done this in weeks!

I took out my notepad and opened my curtains.

Jason was all dressed up in a white dress shirt, black vest, and black bowtie. He held up his notepad.

_Are you going tonight?_

I shook my head. _No, studying._

He smiled sympathetically. _Wish you were._

I gave him a half smile. _What's up with the black bowtie? Isn't it supposed to be hot and red?_

He laughed. _Couldn't find one. She'll yell at me for half an hour, but whatever. Not my problem._

_Well, I hope you have fun_

_Nothing would be fun without you._ He waved, grabbed his blazer, and left without another word.

_Nothing would be fun without you._ The words echoed through my head. Even though he wrote it, I knew him so well that I could imagine his voice saying it.

I wasn't staying home because I was studying. I was actually planning to go to the Homecoming dance. But then all of the drama with Drew and Paris just pressured me into staying home. I told everyone I was studying, but I was lying. I even told my best friends I was studying. I did it because I knew that if I told them the real reason, they would push me to go and I would be mortified.

I shook my head. This was not me. Or was it? One side of my body wanted me to go, and the other didn't. The second side was overpowering the first. The second side was the negative side, the one afraid to take risks.

This wasn't me at all. Piper McLean giving into peer pressure? Piper McLean afraid to take risks? Those sentences were just wrong. Since when did I care about Drew? Since when did I care about what people thought of me? Homecoming may not be my thing, but by showing my face to that dance, it would tell Drew I wasn't afraid of her. She didn't have the ability to embarrass me. She was the weaker one. Whatever her little secret was wouldn't make me ashamed. Whatever it was, I would just have to live with it. I wouldn't live in Drew's shadow anymore.

I slowly took off my glasses. I was still doubting myself, but I had to show Drew that she wasn't the queen of everything. She couldn't get what she always wanted.

I popped in my contact lenses and checked the time. It was already 6:30! I only had an hour and a half to get ready and get to the dance!

I opened my door and ran downstairs. I found Lacy drawing in her sketchbook at the kitchen island and my mom sitting next to her, working on new designs.

"Mom," I said. "I have to go. I just have to."

My mom turned around and gave me a mischievous grin. "Go where?" Something told me that she already knew what I was talking about.

I sighed, but managed to spit it out. "The Homecoming dance. I've got to go."

Lacy turned around and squealed. "Really? Cool! We need to dress you up!"

I smiled and turned back to my mom. "How can I go? It's already 6:30."

My mom kept her grin. "I knew you would decide to go eventually." She stood up and clapped her hands. "We have to get to work immediately. I've got a dress that will make you look simple, but beautiful, and I know that's what you want. Simple, right? It's white and made of chiffon with a gold belt. Like a goddess."

I nodded.

"Lacy," Mom said. "Go get me a thin curler and sparkly fragrance mist. Piper, go get some shoes of your choice. We have to get right to work. Meet me in my room."

I ran up to my shoe closet and skimmed the heels. Then, I thought for a moment. Annabeth was wearing sneakers. Shouldn't I?

But that wouldn't match with the dress, would it? I picked out a pair of golden sandals. I'd just wear those.

I went to my mom's room to see my dress laid out on the bed. it really was simple and beautiful, just like a goddess.

A few seconds later, Lacy came in with a thin curler and sparkly fragrance mist.

It took almost thirty minutes to curl my hair, even though it was short. I think it took long because my mom did thin curls and she did it by layer.

After doing my hair, my mom made me put on the dress. It was super amazing. I never thought that I'd look so good in a dress. This was actually one of the first dresses I had ever actually felt so comfortable in.

Mom smiled. "Piper, you look so beautiful."

I grinned, admiring myself in the mirror. "Thanks, Mom."

Lacy nodded. "You look super pretty! Dad is missing out. Dad always misses out."

I smiled assuringly. "It's okay, Lace. It's his loss, not ours."

Lacy's returning smile didn't look so convincing.

My mom applied on just a little of some pink-orange lip gloss onto my lips, and a little blush because "dance lighting doesn't show off your color". Then, she sprayed a bit of the sparkly fragrance mist all over me. Now, my hair was sparkly, my arms were sparkly, and my face was sparkly. Like Edward Cullen.

I ran up to my room to get a pair of golden earrings. That was when I spotted a folded up piece of paper on my night table.

I went over there to inspect. It happened to be the piece of paper that I had written RAWR on to Jason. I don't know why, but I really wanted to bring it. So, I wedged the paper in between my dress and the golden belt.

It was 7:15 now and the dance would start at 7:30. I would have fifteen minutes to eat a super small dinner and drive to school.

"Mom," I said, as we started down the stairs. "I'm not gonna make it on time. I still have to eat and drive there."

"Relax," Mom said, as we entered the kitchen. "It's okay to be fashionably late. Trust me, I know."

I nodded reluctantly. I'm sure nobody would notice me if I slipped in quickly and quietly.

I sat down at the kitchen island while my mom rummaged through the pantry and refrigerator to make me a sandwich.

"Just eat something small for now," Mom said. "You'll eat more at the dance."

I nodded.

Mom ended up making a turkey sandwich for me. After I was done eating, she made me go brush my teeth and chew some gum to freshen up my breath.

It was 7:35 now. I needed to drive to school.

"I need to go drive now," I said, slipping on my golden sandals.

My mom shook her head. "I called a special someone to pick you up."

I scrunched up my eyebrows. "What?" I heard the engine of a vehicle pull up into our driveway.

I rushed outside and saw Mom's close friend, Apollo waiting outside of a limousine.

"Wow!" Lacy said, just a footstep behind me. "Can I ride too?"

Apollo came over to Lacy and patted her head. "Sure, kid. You can carpool with us. I'm taking your sister to her little Homecoming dance."

I threw my arms around him. "Thanks, Apollo! You're the best!"

Apollo patted my back. "You know it."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Lacy went over to the limo and poked it. "Let's get in!"

Apollo chuckled and opened the door for us. Lacy and I hopped in excitedly. My parents may have been famous, but I was still as excited as a little kid with candy whenever I saw a limousine.

The ride to school only took fifteen minutes. When I got there, it was 7:50. As mom said, fashionably late.

"Bye, Lace!" I said, getting out of the car. "Bye, Apollo!"

"Bye!" They both said back.

Then, I remembered something. "Wait. Apollo?"

"Yes?" Apollo said.

I needed tickets for the dance. "Can I have fourteen dollars? I'll play you back."

Apollo dug out a twenty dollar bill. "Here you go, kid."

I took the money from him. "Thanks! Bye!"

I shuffled to the gymnasium and went to the ticket booth in front of it. "Do you have anymore tickets?"

The teacher at the booth nodded. "Of course."

I gave her the a twenty dollar bill. "Keep the change."

She nodded and gave me my ticket.

"Thanks," I said. I gave my ticket to the person standing in front of the doors to the dance. Then, I headed in.

The dance committee had done a great job this year. The theme was Greek Gathering. There were columns wrapped with leafy, green vines. Golden fake trees stood tall. More vines were climbing up the walls. The lights were dim, but fairy lights were dangling from the ceiling. Everything looked magical. Plus it matched my outfit.

I was wrong about nobody noticing me. They all turned their heads when I walked in. It was super weird. It felt like a scene from a movie.

"Piper?" Annabeth said, when she spotted me. She left Percy to come over. "Piper, what are you doing here? You look awesome! But what are you doing here?"

"Proving Drew that I'm not afraid of her," I replied.

Annabeth nodded. "You go, girl."

I smiled.

Soon, Calypso, Rachel, and Hazel came to join us. They all looked beautiful. Calypso was wearing a high-low ocean blue dress. Her hair was in a fishtail to the side and there was a flower on her hair.

Rachel had her hair in an updo. It wasn't super fancy, but it wasn't too casual either. She actually had on a skater dress and high tops. She still looked amazing, even though her outfit was something that Drew would wear to school everyday.

Hazel was wearing a swishy deep purple halter dress. Her silver ballet flats made her feet look even tinier than they already were. Little diamonds sparkled at her ears.

"Wow," I said, hugging each of them. "You guys look amazing."

"So do you!" Calypso said. "I didn't know you were coming!"

I shrugged. "Change of mind."

"Oh my gods," Hazel muttered.

"What?" I said.

"Jason is coming over," Hazel said, frantically.

"Let's leave them some privacy!" Rachel said. "Hide!"

They all slipped into the crowd. I was sure they were all standing somewhere that they could see me, but I couldn't see them.

Sure enough, Jason was making his way over.

"Piper!" he exclaimed, once he got to me. "I thought you weren't coming."

I smiled. "What? Did you want me not to come?"

Jason put his hands up. "No, of course not. I wanted you to come."

"So you wanted me to come but you don't want me to come now?" I teased.

Jason sighed. "No. Not what I said. Anyway, I have something to tell you."

"What?" I asked. Was he about to tell me why he was dating Drew? The blackmail? What was it?

"I know I'm dating Drew right now," Jason said, "but I need you to know that I like you."

I nodded slowly. "I think I've noticed that." Yes, I knew that. But what I wanted to know was why Jason was dating Drew if he liked me. But I knew he would never tell me. "It's just-"

"I don't just like you," Jason said. "I think that I might even-"

The music stopped.

"Ladies and gentlemen." The spotlight shone on Mr. Chiron, who was up on stage. "It's time to announce the Homecoming King and Queen."

Everyone went into dead silence. I held my breath. I knew the Queen was going to be Drew.

Mr. Chiron held up a little card. "And the Homecoming King is..."

The crowd started whispering.

"Jason Grace!" Mr. Chiron shouted.

Cheers, claps, and whistles echoed throughout the gymnasium.

I gave him a smiled and pushed him towards the stage.

Jason made his way up on stage and was crowned.

"And the Homecoming Queen is..." Mr. Chiron started to open the second card.

Drew stood near the stage, getting ready to go up.

"Wait!" a voice shrieked. "Waaaaiiiit!"

Mr. Chiron closed the card. "What? Who said that?"

Paris made her way up onto the stage. She was wearing a super sparkly pink dress with her hair in a slick ponytail. The stage lights reflected on the sparkles, blinding my eyes.

"And why are you interrupting, Paris?" Mr. Chiron asked.

"I need to show everyone the truth," Paris said. Then her eyes roamed to me and looked directly into my eyes. "And I need to prove my friendship to someone."

My eyes widened. What the Hades was Paris about to do?

"Lower the screen and the projector." Paris' voice was steady.

"Paris," Drew hissed. "What are you doing? I'm about to become Homecoming Queen."

The projector and screen lowered.

"Play the video." Paris' voice remained steady.

"Paris," Chiron said. "We really don't have time for this nonsense."

"Wait," Paris said. "I'm sure we do."

I looked around and caught Annabeth's eye.

Her mouthed, What's happening?

I don't know, I mouthed back.

She nodded.

The moment the video played I knew exactly what was happening.

Up on the screen, Drew was pushing around Annabeth's cousin, Malcolm threatening him to do her paper. It was sickening. Malcolm fumbled around nervously, nodding his head frantically.

Drew gasped. "No. This isn't true. It's edited!"

But everyone's eyes were glued to the screen.

The screen went dark. There was an audio of her shouting at me, and then came another. Next, came the video I had gotten of her whacking Paris in the dressing room at the mall.

And there were more. There were some I didn't even remember Paris sending to me. There were some I had never even seen.

Jason's mouth hung slightly open as he watched Drew's actions towards me, towards her friends, towards everyone.

The video ended after numerous clips of Drew being horrible to everyone.

There was a full minute of silence. I wasn't sure what to think. Paris was finally defending me? Defending herself? She was finally stepping out of Drew's shadow. Was this for me? For herself? For everyone?

"And that, ladies and gentlemen," Paris said, "is who Drew a Tanaka really is."

"You're lying!" Drew screeched. "This is all fake! Don't listen to her!"

"Now, everyone," Paris said. "If you were about to vote for Drew, think again. She's not who you think she is. In fact, I know who really deserves to be Queen." Paris took a deep breath. "This girl had been really strong this month. She's been bullied constantly by Drew, then some dude broke her heart, and her dad is never home. Yet, sometimes she still manages to be her amazing, beautiful self."

It was quiet for a few seconds. She was talking about me. Everyone knew it, but they didn't want to say it.

"No, no, no," Drew was whispering.

It was quiet again. Then...

"Piper, Piper, Piper," Annabeth chanted.

I stared at her and shook my head.

Jason and Paris joined in. "Piper, Piper, Piper!"

More and more people started shouting my name. I felt so weird. I felt embarrassed, yet satisfied. Was this normal?

"Piper! Piper! Piper!" People were clapping now. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

"No!" Drew was shouting now. "No, no, no!"

"PIPER! PIPER! PIPER!"

"Okay, okay," Mr. Chiron said into the microphone. "Quiet down."

The crowd became silent again.

"I think we have a new Homecoming Queen," Mr. Chiron said, smiling right at me.

My jaw dropped opening. Me? Was he talking to me?

"Piper McLean," Mr. Chiron said. "Please make your way up to the stage.

Everyone cheered and clapped, except Drew, who was screaming in objectionAnnabeth . A teacher went over to Drew to try to calm her down.

I made my way up to the stage. This felt so weird. Everyone was staring at me with their eyes wide.

As Mr. Chiron crowned me, Jason grinned so happily.

The crown wasn't a crown at all. It was like a golden Greek styled wreath, to match with the dance.

The crowd started demanding a speech. A speech? I was not very good at speeches. I wasn't afraid to speak to people, but I wasn't even sure what to say during the speech. In fact, I was speechless. I hadn't said a word this whole time.

I walked up to the microphone. My feet felt like bricks.

"Um, hi, everyone." I flinched at how loud my voice was through the microphone. I could see Drew glaring at me with hatred. "So, honestly, I never thought that I would be here, at least not in this position. I mean, think about it. Piper McLean? Homecoming Queen? Did any of you honestly think that I would ever become Homecoming Queen?"

A few people shook their head, but I could see Annabeth nodding violently. I smiled at her.

"I'm glad though," I said. "I'm glad that everyone started to see people for their true colors. And I'm not talking about a specific person. I'm talking about everyone. You should always try to see people for who they are on the inside, instead of who they are on the outside. And I think that that's why I was crowned Homecoming Queen tonight. Because people started seeing me for who I actually am."

I took a deep breath. That turned out better than I thought it would. The whole crowned whistled and clapped. I never actually thought that people would do that for me.

The music started to play again. I got off the stage and made my way towards my friends.

Annabeth lunged at me and pulled me into a hug. She was shaking. I could tell that she was crying.

"I love you so much, Piper," she cried.

Tears started to form at the corners of my eyes. "I love you too, Annabeth. I'm so happy that you were there through everything. I love you so, so, so much."

Calypso gave me a teary smile and joined the hug. Hazel laughed and hugged us, too. Rachel joined in last.

Being surrounded by my friends felt so good. They were amazing. I loved them so much.

"Can I have Piper for a second?"

I turned to see Paris.

My friends eyed her warily, but let me go.

"Piper," Paris said. "I need to explain."

I ran over to her and hugged her. "Paris, you don't have to explain anything. I know that with everything you did, you meant well."

Paris hugged me back. "Gods, I'm so proud of you, Piper."

I pulled back. "I'm proud of you for finally defending yourself against Drew."

"Oh my gods," Paris said.

"What?" I asked.

"Jason!" Paris squealed. Without another word, she just left me.

I made eye contact with Jason. He was about eight feet away from me, and getting closer with every second.

Drew tugged on his sleeve, but he shrugged her off. Her mouth fell open in shock.

Then, he took out a piece of paper and unfolded it. Unbelievable.

_RAWR _

I took out my piece of paper and unfolded it too.

He smiled and came closer until our noses were touching. Then, he closed the space between our lips.


	29. Author's Note 3

**So, a lot of you have been asking if You Belong With Me is over. Well, the answer is nope. I actually mentioned this in the author's note in the last chapter so... :/ There are still going to be about 2-3 more chapters. Plus, there will be many sequels, the next one being Everything Has Changed, a Percabeth fanfic. I hope you guys enjoy your winter break and have an amazing new year! ~Jackie**


	30. Update

**AHHH! I'm so sorry, but due to tests and many piano competitions, I may not be able to update until February. I feel so horrible when I type these up, haha. Well, until then, my lovelies! :) -Jackie**


	31. Perfect

**Sorry for the long wait, and his is also a pretty short chapter so :( but at least it explains everything! If you have any questions, please review, and I'll probably answer them :) Love you! -Jackie**

Chapter 27

Perfect

"Stay here with me," I said to Jason.

It was about twelve in the morning, and Jason had just dropped me off at my house. We were officially a couple now, and no one could stop that. Drew, of course, threw a big fit. Now that everyone, including the teachers, knew her bad side, she'd have to have a lunch detention everyday for two months and an after school detention for one month.

In a way, I kind of felt bad for her. She was probably raised spoiled. In that case, it wasn't exactly her fault. Well, it kind of was her fault, too. She didn't have to be like this, and I'm pretty sure she knew it was wrong.

"I've got to get home," Jason said.

"But you owe me an explanation," I replied. "Can you sleepover?"

Jason shrugged. "What will our parents think?"

"We used to always sleepover," I pointed out. "What's the difference?"

"We're teenagers now," Jason said.

I sighed. "Please? You owe me."

Jason sighed back. "Fine. Don't blame me if your parents think we're up to something." He fake coughed.

I clapped my hands. "Yay! Let's go!"

Jason parked his car into our little car parking and followed me into the house. When I came in, I found Mom in the kitchen designing a dress . Lacy was seated in a dining room chair, asleep, her head resting on her arms, her arms resting on the table.

Mom looked up when she heard me. "Piper! You're home. Did you have fun, sweetie? You're wearing a crown! I also see you have Jason with you."

I nodded. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I won Homecoming Queen. And yes, Jason is with me."

"I'm so proud of you! That's great. And why is Jason with you?" Mom raised an eyebrow.

Told you, Jason mouthed at me.

I rolled my eyes.

Mom laughed. "I'm kidding, you kids go have fun. Just don't-"

"We know, Mom," I interrupted.

"I can carry Lacy up to her bed," Jason volunteered. He scooped Lacy up with just one arm and started up the stairs with her.

"Where's dad?" I asked.

"He's upstairs," Mom said. "He just came home from a long day of shooting. I showed him some pictures that Lacy took of you when you didn't notice. They turned out beautiful, by the way."

I nodded. "I just wish that Dad could be home more often."

Mom nodded. "Me too, sweetie."

"What are you doing up so late anyway?" I asked.

My mom held up her sketchbook. "I had a sudden inspiration. I needed to draw this dress before I forgot my idea."

It was a white dress that fell to the feet. Autumn leaves were falling down from the top of the dress and gathered at the bottom.

"I like it," I said, as Jason came back down the stairs.

"Thank you, honey," Mom said. "Now, do you want to set up a nice little tent in your room that you can and Jason can sleep in?"

I nodded. "Sure. I just have to change out of this dress first."

"What am I going to wear?" Jason asked, gesturing to his fancy attire.

"You can borrow Tristan's sweatpants and a T-shirt," Mom offered.

"Thanks, Mrs. McLean," Jason said.

"You can call me your mother in law." Mom winked.

I felt my face heat up. "Mom!"

Mom laughed. "Too far?"

"You think?" I said.

Jason was grinning.

Mom stopped laughing, but she kept smiling. "Alright, you crazy kids. Go up and change. Take a shower if you want, but it's 12, so you might not want to."

I shrugged. "It's fine, I'll just wash my hair."

Mom took a few pictures of us and then shooed us away.

I went upstairs and changed out of my dress into gray joggers and a tank with a rectangular picture of palm tree silhouettes against a pink and purple sunset. Then, I took off all of the accessories that I was wearing, including the Homecoming crown. I washed my hair and dried it, then brushed my teeth and started to set up our light blue tent.

Meanwhile, Jason asked Dad for sweatpants and a T-shirt. He also gave his Homecoming outfit to my mom so that she could wash it. After brushing his teeth, he came and helped me with the tent.

While Jason was setting up the tent, I turned on the strings of fairy lights that were hanging from my ceiling and walls. I took down another string of lights, hung it on our tent, and plugged it into an outlet into the wall. I did the same with a string of my light up lanterns that were light blue, teal, and white.

"Wow," Jason said, stepping back to admire our work. "This is so tumblr. Pinterest worthy."

I laughed. "I agree."

We took a few pictures of the outside of the tent, then got our sleeping bags, and crawled into the tent.

"Nice tent," Jason commented, patting the space around him. "Spacey. Could fit, like, six people in here and still have room."

I nodded. "Big tents are the best." I crawled inside of my sleeping bag and turned on a little light inside of the tent.

"They are." Jason set his sleeping bag right next to mine and slipped into it.

I looked at him. "So it's time for the explanation."

Jason yawned. "Can we do this tomorrow?"

I crossed my arms.

"Please?" Jason said. "I think we could invite Paris and Annabeth over too. Paris has a part of the story, and I'm sure Annabeth would like to know everything."

I sighed. "Fine, poophead."

Jason chuckled. "Poophead?"

"Goodnight, poophead," I said, turning away from him.

"Don't I get a goodnight kiss?" Jason asked.

"Nope," I replied.

"Please, Pipes?" Jason said.

"Nope," I repeated. I felt a sudden weight on my waste. I flipped onto my back and saw Jason above me. He was sitting on my waste. "Jason! Get off!"

"Not until I get a goodnight kiss," Jason insisted.

I groaned. "Get off."

Instead of getting off, Jason laid on top of me.

"Jason!" I exclaimed.

His nose was a half an inch away from mine. "No."

"Fine," I said. I gave him a quick peck on his nose. "Now, get off."

"That didn't count," Jason whined.

"Did too," I protested. I pushed him off of me. "Now, goodnight, poophead."

"Goodnight, poophead," Jason said. "Rawr."

I smiled. "Rawr."

...

We gathered around in a circle in the tent.

I had called Annabeth and Paris to come over after breakfast. Jason and I were still in our sweats. Annabeth was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, plus her base-ball cap. Even though we weren't going to go anywhere special, Paris was wearing a floral skater skirt with a cropped top with her hair in a side braid.

"Let's get this all sorted out now," Annabeth said, sitting cross-legged next to me.

Jason was also sitting next to me, and Paris sat across from me.

"So where should we start?" Jason asked Paris.

"I think we should start from the beginning of all this madness," Paris suggested.

"I think you're right," Jason said. "Do you want me to begin, or should you start it?"

"I'll start," Paris volunteered. "So, one day, in eighth grade, Drew was going shopping at Beautify. That day, Piper's mom was there. Drew overheard Aphrodite and her employees talking about her."

"Wait," Annabeth interrupted. "About Drew or about Piper?"

"About Piper," Paris replied. "So, she wasn't sure if she heard right, so she just shrugged it off. Then, she asked Jason out, and Jason said yes. Why? I have no idea-"

"I just wanted to try it out," Jason defended himself. "I mean, I thought she was pretty cute, but honestly, I always liked Piper. Since, like, I could develop feelings."

I grinned. "Aw."

"Okay," Paris continued. "Getting back to the story. So, since I was one of Drew's best friends, she told me almost everything. She told me that she was noticing that Piper and Jason were hanging out. I mean, not that they didn't before, but I think it was that she was more jealous of it now that she was dating Jason. So, she made it her business to basically stalk Piper."

"Meanwhile," Jason said. "I was starting to not like Drew more and more. She was just a selfish person, and it wasn't very fun hanging out with her. She would constantly talk about herself. She kept breaking up with me, and getting back together with me. I continued to tolerate this, even though it annoyed me. I have no idea why I did this, don't ask me."

"In ninth grade," Paris said. "Drew got a job at Beautify. It wasn't really a job because you had to be at least sixteen, which Drew just turned this summer."

"Wait," I said. "Did Drew start school late like Annabeth or something? Because they're both sixteen and they're in tenth grade."

Paris nodded. "Anyway, Drew got an internship at Beautify to find out more about Piper. Eventually, she figured out that Piper was Aphrodite's daughter, and that Piper didn't want anyone to know."

"So," Jason said. "She held that against me. Every time I didn't want to get back together with her, she threatened to spill Piper's secret."

So that's what Drew was threatening him about? I should've known! Jason was right. This was about my social life. But it was much more than that too.

I hugged Jason. "I'm really sorry I got mad at you. I didn't know."

Jason hugged me back. "I know, Pipes, and I get it. But Drew kept dating me like that until this year."

"She overheard Piper and I talking about Lacy's birthday in the bathroom," Paris said. "We had mentioned Piper's dad then."

"Then, Drew told me that she knew," Jason said. "She made me get back together with her at Park Scare. I was so confused, like, how did she know? But the truth is, she wasn't sure."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Justin Bieber," Annabeth muttered.

"She just assumed it," Paris continued, ignoring what Annabeth said. "Because you're mom is Aphrodite McLean, and she heard something about Tristan McLean, so it was reasonable. I'm actually surprised no one in this world has figured out that your parents are married and have a daughter."

I nodded. "I am too."

"Then, she came to my house the next day," Paris said. "And she found the picture of Lacy's birthday party, signed by Tristan. And that's when she was sure that Tristan was Piper's dad. And she started threatening Jason with that too."

That was how Drew found out? But Drew had said that Paris told her... I couldn't believe how she could get her hands on all of this information. For a ditz, she was actually really smart.

I leaned across the circle and gave Paris a hug too. "I'm so sorry I was mad at you too."

"It's fine," Paris assured me. "But yeah, that's the whole story."

It was quiet for a few seconds.

"Drew would never do that," Annabeth interrupted the silence.

We all stared at her like there was an elephant sitting on her head.

"Excuse me?" Paris said. "But do you know Drew?"

"No, not that," Annabeth said. "I mean, she would never tell everyone about Piper's parents. Think about it. If Drew told everyone, then Piper would get all the attention, and there would be none left for Drew."

That made sense.

"But the point was that it would ruin Piper's life," Paris said. "And Drew knew that. She would never tell anyone, but she just told Jason she she would because Jason cared about Piper."

Jason scratched his head. "I feel so stupid now."

I patted his head. "You are."

Jason laughed and pulled me into his lap. "No, you are."

"Cute." Annabeth covered her eyes. "But gross. No PDA please."

I smiled. "If you were dating someone, you'd be like this too."

"Not likely," Annabeth said, smirking.

Paris' phone buzzed. She looked at the text and winced.

"Drew?" I guessed.

"That would be correct," Paris said. "There are some very harsh words in this text that I would rather not read out loud."

I smiled sympathetically. "Just try to forget it."

"I can't." Paris shook her head. "She's really mad, and not at all ashamed at what she's done."

I pursed my lips. "Well, we could go out and eat and you might be able to forget it for awhile. Just leave your phone in my house."

Paris nodded. "Thanks, Piper. You're a great friend."

I smiled. "That's what I'm here for."

…

Finally!

After a long time of waiting for food and eating breadsticks with soup or salad, our main course finally came.

I, of course, ordered a vegetarian meal. My friends, knowing that I didn't care if they ate meat in front of me, all ordered noodles with some kind of meat or seafood.

"Olive Garden is seriously the best," Paris said, digging into her noodles. "It's like the cure to everything."

"All food is the cure to everything," Jason mumbled through his mouth full of food.

I chuckled. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

"Sorry," Jason mumbled again.

I rolled my eyes.

"Goals," Annabeth said, laughing and holding her phone up to catch a picture of us. She looked at the picture and laughed again. "Totally going on my story."

I stared at her. "What's that supposed to mean? Don't tell me I look horrible in it."

"No, no," Annabeth said, stifling some giggles. Annabeth does not giggle often. "Jason looks horrible in it."

Jason finished chewing and swallowing his food. "What? Lemme see."

Annabeth held out her phone to reveal a picture of me rolling my eyes and Jason with his mouth open, full of noodles.

"Don't put that on your story!" Jason said, reaching over the table to grab Annabeth's phone.

Annabeth quickly put it back into her lap. "Ha. Too late."

Jason sat back down in his seat and crossed his arms. "You're mean."

"You just noticed?" Paris said.

The rest of lunch was just full of little talks like that. I think it really cheered Paris up, but it might not be enough for school tomorrow. All I could do was hope for the best.

…

October 30

Wow, I cannot tell you how many emotions I'm feeling.

Last night was possibly the best night of my life. I know I said I wasn't going to the Homecoming dance, I did anyway. I realized that a little stupid thing like Drew can't stop me from doing anything really. I mean, if your goal in life is to bring people down, you might as well not even live. And if you're goal in life is not to stand up for yourself, that's even worse.

My mom gave me a last minute dress. It was really pretty, and it fit like it was designed and sewed especially for me. It was a goddess dress with a golden belt. My mom did my hair for me, and I felt like, well, a goddess.

Apollo was nice enough to to drive me to the dance, and I arrived "fashionably late", as my mother would call it.

The weirdest part yet… I was actually crowned Homecoming Queen! Like was this some sort of dreamy nightmare? I never thought I'd be crowned Queen, I thought it was the sort of thing only for people like Drew. Then, I realized being Homecoming Queen actually isn't as shallow as it seems. Homecoming Queen isn't all about what you look like, the clothes you wear, or the people you hang out with. It's about who you are as a human being.

Paris showed the whole school a video of Drew, that's mostly why I was crowned Queen. So I guess Paris and I are friends now.

Anyway, right after I was crowned Queen, Jason came up to me and unfolded a sheet of paper. The sheet of paper said "RAWR." Like who knew, right? Well anyway, we kinda kissed… And yeah it was pretty great.

Hopefully school turns out well tomorrow.

-Piper McLean

…

I walked through the hall with Jason's arm around my waist. The way it tensed against me, I could tell that he was kind of nervous about what Drew's reaction might be.

There she was, striding toward me. Her lipgloss was shinier than ever, her mascara piling up onto her eyelashes, and her eyeliner making a wing. She still managed to look pretty.

"I knew it," she said in a small voice when she walked up to me.

I stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"You stole my boyfriend," Drew said, looking down. "And you ruined my life."

People were staring, like always.

"Don't put on that act, Drew," I said, already figuring out what she was trying to do. She was trying to make me look like the diva in this situation.

She pointed at me, accusingly. "Did you hear that everyone? She's trying to accuse me of doing something I'm not!"

Everyone rolled their eyes. At this point, they knew.

I sighed. "Listen, Drew. As much as I'd like to be friends with you, we can't be, if you keep acting like this." I really didn't want to be friends with her, I just wanted to be on okay terms with her.

"Friends?" Drew scoffed. "It's too late for that, sister."

"Well that's too bad," I shrugged.

Drew stomped her foot. "I am so going to ruin your life!"

I pointed at her accusingly, just like she had done. "Did you hear that everyone?" I was mocking her. "She's trying to ruin my life!"

A few people snickered.

Drew huffed.

"Listen, Drew," I said, taking a step closer to her. "I'm sorry your life has to suck so much that you have to go out of your way to ruin other people's lives. I really am sorry for you."

Drew's jaw clenched. "Whatever." She gestured to her minions. "Let's go. We have no business with them."

One of the girls bit her lip. "She's right though."

Drew turned around and glared at her. "Excuse me?"

Another girl, Gwen, spoke up. "She said that she's right." She winced like she expected Drew to hit her.

"Now you too?" Drew snapped. "It's bad enough Paris already betrayed me. Now you two? Okay, fine. Leave me. Go join Dumpster Girl's little crew over there. I don't need you Gwen and… Whatever your name is."

The other girl looked like she had been punched.

Annabeth whistled. "It's getting hot in here."

"Drew," the girl said. "I've been friends with you since fourth grade. And you don't even know my name? Figures." She sighed. "As much as I'd like to be your actual friend, I can't if you don't even know my name."

Drew rolled her eyes. "I don't need your friendship. You're no longer welcome in my circle."

The girl closed her eyes and inhaled. "Okay. Fine. That's fine."

Gwen nodded. "It's fine with me too."

Drew sniffed. "Fine, then." She turned to the rest of her minions. "Anyone else want to leave me?"

They all looked down, but said nothing.

"Good," Drew said. "Let's go." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and continued walking down the hallway. Her minions shuffled behind her, murmuring to each other.

Annabeth whistled again. "She must be having a horrible day." She smirked.

I rolled my eyes. I felt kind of guilty about roasting her. She already lost her Homecoming Queen title, got detention, and now she just lost two minions. "We shouldn't be too cold to her. True, she's a horrible person, but she has feelings. She can change."

Annabeth stared at me. "She's not a person. She doesn't have feelings. She doesn't have a heart."

I shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see."

Annabeth shrugged back. "I'm gonna go to homeroom now. See you later."

I smiled and waved. "Bye."

Jason hooked arms with me. That's when I remembered he was still there.

I grinned at him. "I forgot you were still here."

Jason looked at me, pretending to be hurt. "That hurts, Pipes."

I unhooked my arm from his, and instead, I intertwined my fingers with his. "Oh, shut up."

Jason let go of my hand. "Did you just tell me to shut up?" He looked serious.

I knew he wasn't. I know him well enough. "Yes, I did."

Jason sighed. "Well, you earned it."

What was he talking about?

"What?" I asked.

He stared at me. The corner of his lip twitched.

I stared back at him. What was he doing?

Then, without a warning, he scooped me up and slung me over his shoulder.

I let out a small, surprised scream. "Jason! Put me down!" His arm was right underneath my butt.

"No," Jason said.

I pounded lightly on his back. "Jason Grace!"

He turned into another hallway without saying anything.

I heard another pair of feet coming our way.

"Well," said a voice that didn't belong to Jason. "Look who's butt we have here."

I twisted my body at a weird angle to see what was going on. Zia stood in front of Jason with her arms crossed, a mischievous glint in her eye, and a smirk on her face.

"Oh, hi, Zia." I waved awkwardly.

"Hey," she said, trying to hide a smile. She was evidentially failing.

"Whatcha doing?" I said.

"Not appreciating talking to your butt," Zia replied, furiously grinning now. I didn't know she had it in her to do so.

"Well," I said. "I told Jason to put me down, but he wouldn't listen. So, I guess you're stuck talking to my butt now."

"Interesting," Zia commented, her grin fading back into her normal expression. "So, I heard you guys are a couple now?"

Jason patted my legs. "That's us."

I kicked my legs around. "Yup. Best couple ever. Please put me down now, Jason."

"Nope," he said, his grip on me tightening. "I'm never letting you go again."

Something about that sentence melted my heart.

Zia stuck her tongue out in distaste. "If you'll excuse me, I think I might vomit right here and right now."

"Go ahead," Jason said. "But even if you do, I'll never stop loving my amazing, beautiful Pipes."

Zia gagged. "Okay. Vomiting right here, right now." She made barf noises and held her stomach like it was her lifeline.

I laughed. "Nice talk, Zia Rashid."

"Nice talk, Piper McLean," Zia replied. "I'm probably going to go to class now. Wouldn't want to be late now, would we?"

I shook my head. "But you could call in sick because you vomited and you have witnesses."

Zia's eyes smiled with amusement, but her lips showed the same straight face that she always had on. "I'd rather not. See you guys at lunch."

I nodded and waved as Jason started walking again.

He turned into the hallway of our homeroom.

"Can you let me go now?" I asked after a few seconds.

"No can do," Jason said, continuing to walk down the hallway. "I cannot do such things. They said that in the rule book."

I snorted. "What rule book?"

"The relationship rule book that I made up in my head," Jason said. He sounded rather proud of himself, so I wasn't going to ruin his moment.

"Stop flirting with each other!" I heard a voice that clearly belonged to Coach Hedge. "It really sickens me."

"Sorry sir," Jason called out as we got closer to our homeroom. He still held on to me, despite what Coach Hedge said. It seemed like lots of people were getting sick because of our amazingness.

The passing time music began to play.

"Put her down, Grace," Coach Hedge said.

We were only about five feet away from him now.

"Fine," Jason said, sighing. He let go with both arms and let me fall onto my feet.

I patted his head. "Good Jason."

We walked into the classroom. Coach Hedge followed us, closing the door behind us.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Coach Hedge said, gesturing to Jason and I, who were currently standing in the front of the room. "I think it's okay to announce your new, sickening, gross, awful, beautiful, disgusting couple! Jason and Piper!"

The whole classroom clapped and cheered. I even heard one person yell out, "finally!"

"Aw," Jason said. "Did I hear a 'beautiful' in there, Hedge?"

"Don't push it, Grace," Coach Hedge grumbled.

Jason out his hands up in surrender, a smile on his face. "Whatever you say, Coach."

I laughed and put my arms around Jason's waist.

This could not get any more perfect.


	32. Author's Note 5

Omg! So sorry I haven't updated in like a month :( Don't worry, there's another chapter coming in a few days! One more chapter after the next chapter :) stay tuned -Jackie


	33. Halloween

**Short chapter and late update... But enjoy! Can I just remind you... I love you! -Jackie**

**Chapter 28**

Halloween

Jason stood in front of a three way mirror in my closet, wearing a fuzzy brown bear suit. "Are you sure, Pipes? I feel ridiculous."

We had all our friends over at my house after school, trying on our costumes, the ones we would be wearing on Halloween, which was tonight. We were going to go as woodland creatures. Paris was the only one of my friends who wasn't there. She promised to go with her family.

I laughed and pecked him on the cheek. "That's because you are ridiculous." I was also wearing the exact same bear suit as Jason. It didn't look super ridiculous on me, if I do say so myself.

He smiled and continued checking himself out in the mirrors.

Annabeth appeared next to us. "You look ridiculous? Please. Have you seen me?" She was, too, dressed like a bear. The difference was, she was dressed as a baby bear, not a regular bear.

She gestured to her face. "Does this really look like a baby face to you?"

I grinned and placed my hand on her shoulder. "You look so adorable. I'm so glad you're my little bear cub."

She glared at me. "Don't push it."

"Hey," I warned. "Do not give me that attitude, young bear cub. Or else I won't give you honey for dessert."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, please! Not the honey!"

Leo came over to us and flexed his nonexistent muscles. "I look way better than y'all."

Annabeth scanned him. She wrinkled her nose. "You're a skunk."

Leo fluffed his black and white tail. "Better believe it. My fart machine is back at my house though."

"Fart machine?" I repeated. "This was not part of the agreement, Leo. I don't trust you with a fart machine."

Leo with a fart machine was a big no-no. He was going to just fart all over innocent kids and blame it on them. You know, like he did in elementary school. And now.

"I love you too, Piper." He patted my back and went away.

As he walked passed Calypso, she muttered, "Ew. Ugh."

Calypso was wearing her own creation: a brown chiffon dress with streaks of blue-ish gray to look like feathers. Her wings and bird hat were finished too, but she said she would put them on later.

She crossed her arms, and her skirt shifted. It looked almost magical.

"And what are you, Sunshine?" Leo stared at her with a blank face. "Miss Perfect?" He looked kind of agitated, which was an emotion Leo didn't regularly feel. "Just because you're perfect, doesn't mean everyone have to be." He sounded like he was joking, but serious at the same time.

"I never said I was Miss Perfect," Calypso snapped, mocking Leo with perfection.

Leo shook his head. "Gods, Calypso. I barely even know you, but you're still such a-"

"Leo," Annabeth interrupted quickly.

That was a smart move. Things were about to get pretty ugly.

Leo turned his attention to Annabeth. "What?"

"Can you go get us some snacks please?" Annabeth asked. The tone of her voice was sweet, but firm.

Leo groaned. "Okay, fine. Sure." He left my closet to go down to the kitchen.

The rest of us turned to Calypso. All of us had the same unspoken, unanswered question.

"What was that?" Percy blurted. He was dressed in a super cute beaver costume, which made it impossible to be mean to him.

Calypso is all about the impossible, apparently.

She glared at Percy. "Nothing. It's none of your business."

Percy's shoulders sagged a little. "Calypso, I-"

"Percy," Annabeth cut in. "Maybe you should go help Leo with the snacks."

Percy sighed and got up. "Yes, Annabeth."

He left the room.

"Frank," Annabeth said in a low voice.

"Annabeth," Frank replied, in the same low voice. He was wearing a cuddly reddish brown fox onesie that didn't match his voice at all. It felt slightly comfortable that his cute and cuddly appearance did not match his low, gruff voice.

"I really wanted to go as an elephant," Frank randomly admitted.

"Frank," Annabeth repeated, ignoring his comment. "I trust you and Jason to go down there and keep Leo and Percy busy. Just distract them." She lowered her voice again. "We need some girl time right now."

Frank sprang up to his feet. "Girl time! I know what that is!"

Jason stood up too, but not as quickly. "I know what that is too."

That was my down to earth Jason. My down to earth boyfriend.

Annabeth made a shoo motion. "Go."

They scrambled out and down to the kitchen.

Once again, we all turned to Calypso, the now spoken, but. unanswered question hovering above our minds.

"So," Hazel said awkwardly. "Can we get an answer to Percy's question please?" She was sitting with her arms hugging her knees, curled up like a hedgehog. It was coincidental, because she was dressed as a hedgehog too.

Her brown costume made her look even smaller than she already was. The fake spikes on the back made her look super cute.

Calypso shrugged. "I don't even know."

We gave her a knowing look.

"Spill it out, girl," Rachel demanded.

Rachel was wearing an oversized DIY red hat with white polka dots. The rest of her outfit was just white.

Yes, she was a mushroom. It didn't technically count as a woodland animal, but Rachel claimed that we were doing woodland creatures, and a mushroom was a creature in the woods. Naturally, just let it slide. We couldn't say no to her creativity.

Calypso shrugged again. "I just find Leo overly annoying. I don't know why. He's just so infuriating."

"A lot of us think that," I agreed. "But Leo is Leo. If you don't like him, just try to keep your distance. But he means well, Calypso. Maybe you should try to get to know him."

"I like the first idea better," Calypso said.

I sighed. "Suit yourself."

What was Calypso's issue? I loved her and all, but she could be a little weird sometimes. Percy may have broken her heart, but why did she have to act like a brat to Leo?

A few minutes later, the boys came back up with snacks and drinks. We changed out of our costumes and went downstairs with the food to start decorating the entrance hall. Lacy, Annabeth, and I had already decorated the outside of the house a few days before.

"Alright," Annabeth clapped her hands. "Piper and I have split us up into groups." She took out a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her worn out jeans. "We need to have two groups. One will decorate the entrance hall, and the other will make cookies and candy in the kitchen.

"The decorating group will be led by Piper, since it's her house. If she wants something done, you better not protest. Well, you can negotiate, but if I were her, which I'm not, you'd better not protest. Anyway, in this group will be Jason, Leo, and Rachel. When Lacy gets home from school, which will be soon, she will also join this group.

"The baking group will be led by Calypso and I, because Calypso knows a lot about baking and cooking, and you know me. I love to give out orders. In this group will also be Percy, Hazel, and Frank.

"Now, the little trick-or-treaters will start coming at six. We're lucky today was a half day at school, but even so, we've got only six hours, so we need to get started right now."

With that, we split up. The baking group went into our main kitchen, and the rest of us stayed in the entrance hall. They looked at me expectantly.

I looked back at them. Jason, Leo, and Rachel. They weren't too bad. Rachel was super creative, so that was a plus. Even her outfit told everyone that she was creative. The back of her denim flannel had patches of different fabrics and patterns sewed onto it. If that didn't say creative, I didn't know what did.

"Okay," I said, stretching out the last syllable. "So the theme is a spooky forest, but not so creepy that we scare off the kids."

"Like Snow White?" Leo suggested.

All of us stared at him.

"What?" Jason said.

"You know," Leo said, "that part where she runs through the creepy forest and starts screaming and gasping whenever she sees trees?"

"Hey," Rachel said. "That part still creeps me out to this day." It sounded like she was partly joking.

I pointed my finger at Leo. "I think he's onto something though. We just won't make it as creepy, since all of our costumes wouldn't really match creepiness. Especially Annabeth's baby bear costume."

"So." Jason gestured to the bags of decorations by the stairs. "Where should we start?"

I thought for a moment. "Jason and Leo, you guys are on tree duty. Four of those bags contain disassembled trees, which is eight trees in all. You guys are going to put them up around the room, and come back to me when you're done."

They both saluted and raced over to the bags.

"What am I supposed to do, Captain McLean?" Rachel asked with a grin on her face.

"You can make signs for all the different treats," I ordered. Rachel could handle that. She loved to draw.

"Let me just ask the kitchen what they're making," I said.

Rachel nodded.

I left the entrance hall to go into the kitchen, just to find Annabeth and Percy in the kitchen pouring flour into a bowl.

"What are you guys making?" I asked them. "And where are the others?"

"Calypso and Hazel are prepping in the other kitchen," Annabeth replied without looking up from the bowl of flour. "Frank is out getting more ingredients and some regular candy that some kids would want. And we're making Ghost Pumpkin Bars, which you can call Ghost Bars, Witch Cupcakes, Ogre Eyeballs, which are cookies that look like ogre eyeballs, Poisoned Candy Apples, which you can just call Poisoned Apples, and Candy Corn. We're also making Vampire Blood, also known as fruit punch. Plenty to go around."

"Great," I said. "This will be the best Halloween ever."

…

I finished drawing on my black bear nose with eyeliner and smiled at my reflection.

"Looking good, McLean," I said to myself.

I was wearing my bear onesie with the hood up. My hair was down and I wore just a little eyeliner and mascara to make my eyes look darker and more bear like.

My eyes turned to the fancy looking clock on the wall of my closet. It was 5:30. The early trick-or-treaters would be coming soon.

I walked downstairs where everyone was waiting in the entrance hall, admiring our work. I thought we did an amazing job.

In the front of the entrance hall, our dark wooden table stood their as always. But today, it was covered with dark red, orange, and yellow fake leaves. A crystal vase sat in the middle of the table. In the vase were roses that were so dark they looked almost black. The roses coated in thin fake spider webs.

Scattered leaves and fake spiders were scattered all over the marble floor, as well as random Jack-o-lanterns The chandelier was covered in a thick layer of cobwebs, and strings of orange fairy lights dangled from the ceiling.

The eight trees were put around the room in a creative manner. Cute fake ghosts and lanterns hung onto them, creating a creepy, but adorable atmosphere. A smoke machine was set up by the front door.

The balconies and double staircase were decorated with sparkly fake bats, sticky glowing stars, and more spiderwebs.

We had set up tables with signs that Rachel made on either side of the double staircase.

On the left side of the staircases, were three tables. One had six plates of Ghost Bars on it, which were just pumpkin bars that had ghost shaped whipped cream with chocolate chip eyes. The table had lots of fake transparent ghosts floating around it.

Another table was giving out Poisoned Apples. They were candy apples glazed in caramel that was dyed black. The tree behind it was decorated with a bunch of fake apples, so it basically looked like a dead apple tree that was still growing apples.

The next table had three large glass bowls filled to the top with little pieces of candy corn. Fake stalks of corn were scattered around the table. You could tell that they were obviously fake, but none of us seemed to care.

On the right of the double staircase were three more tables. The first contained five plates of Ogre Cookies. They were snicker doodle cookies coated with green sugar. The whites of the eye were made of white chocolate chips, and the pupils were made of brown M&amp;M's. One inch long black licorice eyelashes grew from the ogre's eye.

The table next to the Ogre Eye table had six plates of Witch Cupcakes. Those were really chocolate cupcakes with hazelnut cream cheese frosting. They were topped with cute little black witch hats and were balanced on top of mini brooms.

The last table had two gigantic glass bowls of "Vampire Blood" with chunks of ice floating around in it, which didn't look so much like Vampire Blood. Little flying bats were dangling down from the ceiling around that table,

Behind each table sat one of my friends.

Hazel was managing the Ghost Bar table. She was dressed in her adorable hedgehog costume, complete with a black little nose. Her hood was up, but her curly hair still sprang out.

Sitting by the Poisoned Apple station was Frank. He looked very cozy in his fox onesie with a big, bright tail attached to it. The hood looked a little tight around his head, but he didn't appear to mind.

Next to Frank's table was Calypso's table. She was going to give out the candy corn. She looked super beautiful. She was wearing the chiffon dress again, but this time with the wings and hat. The fluffy, feathery wings were attached to her back and drooped down to her thighs. The hat made her face look pointy, but cute, like a bird, especially because of the beak. Calypso's hair was swept to the side in a mermaid tail braid, with little sparkly gems stuck in it. Her eyeliner swooped up at the ends gracefully, just like a bird. She wore light blue eyeshadow, so light that I could barely notice it, but it still added a nice touch.

On the other side of the stairs was Leo, eyeing the a Ogre Eye Cookies very longingly. He wore his furry skunk costume with his curly hair sticking out of the hood, but just by a little.

The Witch Cupcake table was taken care of by Rachel. She wore her mushroom hat, a crisp white shirt, white jeans, and white Vans. She wore red blush so that it was circular. Bold choice. She looked like a cartoon.

Percy was sitting behind the Vampire Blood table. He was stirring around the ice cubes with lots of interest. He looked cuddly in his heave costume, although the fake buck teeth were a bit of an overkill. I liked it anyway.

I approached Hazel's table. "You look really cute, Hazel. How do you think everything looks?"

Hazel nodded and looked around. "Thanks, Piper. I think everything looks great. You, Rachel, and the boys did an amazing job decorating."

"And you guys did an amazing job with all of the food," I complimented, giving her a smile. "Well, it looks good. I haven't tasted it yet though, but I'm sure it tastes just as good as it looks."

Hazel grinned. "There are extra treats in the main kitchen. We saved some for us."

"That's great," I said. "I'm going to go check on all of the others now, okay? Good look giving out eatable ghosts."

Hazel laughed. "Thanks."

I walked over to the next person, Frank. "I like your cute and fluffy appearance."

He looked down at his costume. "Oh, thanks. Yours is pretty great too. Very great." He leaned closer to me. "Or should I say beary great." He chuckled at his own joke.

I was amused at his lame attempt at a joke. "Thanks. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for buying the extra candy. By the way, where is it?"

"In the kitchen," Frank said, inspecting one of the Poisoned Apples. "This doesn't look safe to eat."

"Of course it doesn't," I said. "It's a poisoned apple, Frank."

He wiggled his finger at me. "I knew that."

I smiled again, I was in a good mood.

I left Frank and came over to Calypso and her Candy Corn stand. "Hey, you look amazing. I love your wings and your makeup. And the hair."

Calypso's lips stretched upward. "Oh, thank you, Piper. It was really fun putting this all together."

"I bet it was." I leaned over and lowered my voice. "Hey, listen. If Leo bothers you tonight, just come tell me, okay?" I wanted her to be able to be comfortable with talking to me, but I mostly wanted tonight to stay peaceful. It was a little selfish of me, but I didn't want anything to ruin my mood.

"Okay." Calypso's smile faded, but only by the slightest bit. I noticed anyway. "I will."

I gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder and went over to Leo. "Hey, buddy. Those ogre eyes look a little appetizing, don't they?"

Leo smacked his lips. "Yes they do, ma'am. Yes they do."

"Leo," I whispered. "Try to keep your cool for me? I know you don't annoy Calypso on purpose, but just try to be on your best behavior."

Leo sighed. "Okay. Anything for my best pal. I got you, Beauty Queen." He stood up and his fist shot up i not the air. "I will not fail this quest!"

"Hate to break it to you," I said, "but this is not a quest. It's a favor."

"Don't ruin my moment," Leo replied. "Can't you see my superhero cape billowing in the wind?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly realized I was at a loss for words. I just left without saying anything. Leo was used to that.

"Rachel!" I said neared her. "Nice floppy hat."

Rachel tipped her hat at me, which didn't work out so well because it fit perfectly on her head. "Thanks, fellow woodland creature."

"Oh, right," I looked down at my fuzzy arms. "I keep forgetting I'm a bear."

"Don't we all?" Rachel said, poking a witch's broomstick.

I tapped her table. "I'm going to go check on Percy now. Hang in there, Miss Mushroom."

As I walked away I saw Rachel lean back and say, "Huh, Miss Mushroom. I like that."

Percy sat at his table, still stirring the ice cubes and looking very intrigued.

"You good, Percy?" I asked as I walked by.

He gave me a thumbs up.

That was a brisk visit.

Annabeth came out of the kitchen dressed in her baby bear costume.

"Annabeth!" I ran up to her. "How's everything?"

"The treats are in the kitchen," Annabeth informed me. "in case we get hungry during the night, or at the end of the night. And we're going to leave the door open."

I scrunched up my eyebrows. "But what if-"

"I've got it all figured out," Annabeth cut me off. "We have a bug repellent shield thing to keep the bugs out. My dad made it. And we'll have someone guarding the door if anything gets out of line. Like if a burglar comes in lord something."

"Who would that person be?" I asked.

"I was thinking Jason," Annabeth said. "But we're all going to switch off. The first shift will be where everyone is now, and you and I will be greeting the trick-or-treaters and giving them candy, in front of the table in the middle. The candy is in the kitchen. During the switches, we're all going to move clockwise. There's always going to be two people greeting guests and giving out candy, one person guarding the door, and one person at each table."

"How very strategic," I commented.

"Why, thank you very much," Annabeth said. "Why, thank you beary much." She snorted. "See what I did there?"

I groaned. "Now you're doing it too?"

She looked confused. "What?"

"Nothing," I said dismissively. "Where's Lacy now? She was just helping me decorate a couple minutes ago."

"She's in the kitchen," Annabeth answered. "She's probably just going to hang around here and go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood later."

"Okay. Let's get some candy bowls and get the show on the road."

When the first trick-or-treaters came, we asked their dad to take a group picture of us. It actually turned out well, considering the fact that "old people don't know how to use electronics", according to Leo.

Anyway, all of my shifts were pretty fun. By the time midnight rolled around, six hundred twenty-eight people had visited. We started to run out of treats, not counting the extra ones in the kitchen, but there was still punch left.

Because we ran out of treats, we had to relieve Frank and Calypso of their jobs for awhile. Frank went out to buy more candy at around nine, and Calypso had to run to the kitchen to start making food from whatever was left of the ingredients in my house. She made apple Popsicles, pumpkin pie tarts, and caramels. It was amazing how fast and efficiently that could work.

From time to time, I would go help Calypso out in the kitchen. I definitely did not want her to work so hard by herself and not have any company.

So from around 9:30 to midnight, we passed out candy, Popsicles, mini pies, and caramels. Our place was so popular and successful, that people actually started to tip us. We made 330 dollars by the end of the night. People also suggested we open a bakery. It was pretty awesome.

Even Paris and her family dropped by. Well, a lot of people from our school came. There were so many, I could hardly keep track. Luckily for me, I only had to keep track once. It was the door keeper's job to keep tabs on how many people came by. By the end of the night, tally marks in different handwriting covered a whole page. We made sure to keep our handwriting small.

We all changed out of our costumes and gathered into my room at 12:15, after everyone left and Lacy was asleep. To be honest, we would most likely be late to school the next day.

Annabeth yawned and dealt out the money. "Each of us gets thirty-five dollars, since Lacy only wanted fifteen dollars of the profit."

"Sweet," Percy said, nodding. "I could buy, like, earbuds with that."

Annabeth handed a twenty dollar bill to me. "You've already got earbuds, Percy."

Percy shrugged.

I looked at the time on my phone. "It's already 12:17. If you want, you guys can sleep over."

Frank frowned and shook his head. "My grandmother wouldn't want me to on a school night."

"I can," Hazel volunteered. "My dad usually wouldn't care."

"I obviously can," Annabeth said. "And it's not that my parents don't care, it's that I'm basically part of Piper's family."

Rachel shrugged. "I don't care about what my parents think. I'll just sleepover anyway. Won't even notice that I'm gone."

Leo scratched his head. "That's depressing."

I slipped on a ski hoodie that I had gotten in Denver a few years ago. "Can you sleepover, Leo?"

"Lemme just ask my dad," Leo said, taking out his phone to call his dad.

Jason swung his arm around my shoulder. "I think my dad would let me sleep over tonight. He's always wanted me to have a girlfriend who wasn't Drew, after all."

I snorted. "I so get your dad."

"Percy," Annabeth said. "Are you sleeping over?"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Why? Do you want me to?"

Annabeth stuck up her tongue and shoved him. "No!"

"Aw," Percy said, laughing. "It's okay, I have to get home."

She and Percy would make a great couple.

"What?" Leo said into his phone. "Oh gods, Dad, no! She has a boyfriend!"

I gave him a questioning look. "What?"

Leo waved his hand dismissively at me. He kept talking to his phone. "I told you, she's dating Jason! No, we're not going to have a-"

Everyone stared at him. We were all expecting one word. Threesome. I wanted to laugh so bad, and I almost did.

"-love making session with three people," Leo finished, giving us pointed looks.

Percy stifled a laugh.

Calypso didn't seem to be very amused.

"Okay," Leo said. "Thanks, Dad." He hung up. "My dad said yes, on one condition, which I'd rather not broadcast to you guys."

Annabeth snorted.

So it was decided. Hazel, Leo, Jason, Rachel, and Annabeth would sleep over.

The rest of the night was pretty much how most nights for me went. The only thing different was that there were five extra people.

After brushing our teeth and everything, we just crashed.

It wasn't much, but it made me a little emotional. I couldn't ask for better friends, and it was absolutely perfect.

I knew it sounded kind of impossible, like something that would come out of a book, but it was. It was real.

**One more chapter to go, guys! Then after that, the sequel! And just to let you guys know, I've chosen the title of the new book back in November... It's going to be Everything Has Changed if you didn't catch that! Again, LOVE YOU SO MUCH -Jackie**


	34. Thanksgiving

**Omg this is the freaking last chapter! *wipes away tears.* I'm so sorry for a month of not updating, but I had lots of stuff to do. (My birthday, reading THE TRIALS OF APOLLO: THE HIDDEN ORACLE). Anyway, without further adue, I present to you the final chapter of YBWM. ;)**

**Chapter 29**

**Thanksgiving**

"Girls!" Mom called from the kitchen. "Come help me with the food!"

Annabeth and I raced down the stairs and into the big kitchen where Mom was.

The smell of stuffed turkey and mashed potatoes wafted up my nose. Pots of squash soup sat in the stove and trays of casserole in the making were placed on the marble kitchen island.

Mom was busy stuffing the two large turkeys and Lacy was squishing the potatoes rather violently.

"Would you two be considerate enough to go make pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce in the other kitchen?" Mom asked. "The supplies are in there. Recipes are on the table."

We nodded and went down the stairs to the second kitchen.

It took more than half an hour to make twenty-four servings of cranberry sauce. Only eighteen people were expected to come, but hey, some of us had huge appetites.

The pumpkin pie took about an hour and a half to make. By the time we were done making the two deserts, it was about 4:00. We put all the meals into the refrigerators while we waited for all the guests to come.

Of course, the first was Jason. He came a little after we were done cooking and baking.

Jason. We hadn't exactly said "I love you," to one another yet, but I knew I already loved him. I had loved him for a long time, I just hadn't known it. The guy was something special. We'd been dating for only a month, but I felt like it had been much, much longer than that.

I opened the door to see his very familiar grin. He was wearing a lightweight sweater and nice jeans. He held up two big plates of spinach puffs.

"My dad's coming in an hour," he said. "But he and I made these spinach puffs this morning. You'll love them."

I smiled and led him to the main kitchen. "I sure hope so."

"Am I the first one here?" Jason asked as we entered the kitchen. "Where is everyone?" He glanced at my track pants and loose tie-dyed shirt. "You're not even dressed yet."

I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. It had grown out since October, so it wasn't quite as choppy anymore. "I was just about to get dressed. Annabeth and I were making stuff, so we decided not to get dressed. She's actually upstairs changing right now. My mom is doing her makeup and Lacy's doing her hair. My dad's getting dressed. So besides them, yeah, you're the first one here."

Jason put the spinach puffs into the refrigerator. "You know what I need right now?" He opened his arms.

"Just a wild guess, but," I said, "a hug?"

Jason laughed as I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him.

"Whoa." I heard Annabeth's voice come closer and closer. "No PDA, please, people."

I smiled and let go of Jason to look at Annabeth.

She wore a dark gray t-shirt dress with black leather three-quarters sleeves and a black and white flannel tied around her waist. A third of her curly hair was tied up with the rest falling down to her ribcage.

"You look cute," I commented.

"Hey," she said, smirking, "I am not cute. I am anything but cute."

"Beautiful," I tried.

"Better," she said.

I shook my head but my smile didn't leave my face. "I'm going to change now. I'll be back in a bit."

I skipped up the stairs and went into my room to the outfit that I had set out earlier. After putting it on, I did my hair and stopped by Lacy's room to see what she was up to.

"Coming!" she shouted when I knocked on the door.

When she opened the door, I gasped and covered my mouth.

My little sister was wearing a striped white shirt with a light blue suspender skirt. Her hair was tied up into a cute braided ponytail with tiny glittering flowers woven into it.

I picked her up and twirled her around. "Well, don't you look cute today?"

Lacy squealed as I put her down. "Thanks, Piper! I FaceTimed Sadie, and she helped me pick it out. She has her own Thanksgiving dinner to host, that's why she couldn't come."

I gave her a sympathetic frown. "Aw, well, that's too bad. Now I'm going to go downstairs and leave you to, um, whatever you're doing."

Lacy seemed to be happy about that. She shut the door in my face.

I chuckled and went downstairs and into the kitchen.

When Jason saw me, his eyes bulged out of his head, taking in my appearance. Annabeth just grinned at me like a proud mother.

I was wearing a cream colored sweater tucked into a maroon skirt. A golden statement necklace dangled from my neck. My hair was pulled up into a neat ponytail with a single braided strand.

Jason recovery from his shock. "Wow, Pipes. You look… You look amazing! Wow, I totally don't deserve you."

I hugged him. "Don't say that. That's a breakup line."

Jason hugged me back and squeezed my hand. "All I'm trying to say is, you look absolutely stunning. I mean, you look beautiful all the time, and super gorgeous at Homecoming, but it's different when you give half an effort to look good. It's, I don't know, more you."

"That doesn't make sense, Jason," Annabeth pointed out.

"I think it makes sense," I said with a chuckle.

Annabeth fake gagged.

A few minutes later, Hazel arrived. She was wearing a gray cowl neck sweater dress with black leggings and black flats. Her curly hair fell all around her shoulders and down to the middle of her back. She had a tray wrapped in tinfoil in her hands.

Her half siblings stood behind her.

Bianca di Angelo stood on her left side which was to say, my right. She wore a beautiful silver dress with layers of mesh as the skirt. Her glittery black hair was braided to one side. She wore black ankle boots, and held another tinfoil wrapped tray.

To Hazel's right was Bianca's brother, Nico di Angelo. He was wearing black jeans and a black button-up. His hair came close to covering his eyes and a silver skull ring glinted on his finger.

The guy seemed nice enough. Most people didn't think that, but I believed he was a good guy. He had a good heart, but sadly, everyone found him creepy. I would sympathize with the guy, but he was the kind of person who wouldn't want sympathy.

"Wow," I said, opening the door wider so that they could come in. "You guys look nice. Thanks for coming."

Hazel kicked off her flats. "No problem, Piper. Our dad couldn't come, as you know. He's really busy. But Bianca and I made buttermilk biscuits."

I noticed she didn't mention Nico.

"That's great," I said, taking Bianca's tray so that she could take off her boots. "Why don't you guys head upstairs to my room? Jason and Annabeth went up there. I can take the trays."

Hazel handed me her tray and led Bianca and Nico up the stairs. Nico trailed behind like he wasn't exactly eager to be here.

I shrugged and took the trays to the kitchen. Maybe he was just an introvert. Yes, that was probably it.

Percy arrived next. He was dressed in a black sweater with a dress shirt underneath. He looked so much like a seriously uncomfortable gentleman, it kind of made me want to laugh.

He took off his dress shoes and shoved a pan into my hands.

"Blueberry cheesecake," he said. "It's actually blue, not purple."

I looked at the cake through the plastic wrap. What was the guy's deal with blue food.

"Thanks," I said. I really liked Percy. He always made me have an urge to laugh.

"Upstairs?" Percy said, pointing to the direction my room.

"Yep," I nodded.

He took the cheesecake from me.

"I can just put it in the kitchen for you," I offered.

"Nah," he said. "You'll be doing a lot more things tonight than putting a cake on the counter. I can handle this one. Stay here and greet your guests."

Huh. He seemed good for Annabeth. Best friend approval: check.

I smiled gratefully and watched him go into the kitchen. It was a small gesture, but sweet.

Next was Calypso, who always dressed like a goddess. Today, she was wearing a crisp white romper with a light pink cardigan. A golden daisy chain headband wrapped around her head.

"I'm sorry," she said, taking off her brown ankle boots. "I couldn't bring anything. I was going to make some stew, but I had to a lot of cleaning around the house."

"That's completely fine," I assured her. "We have plenty of food. You can just go upstairs. Everyone else is up there."

She didn't say anything for awhile, but curiosity got the best of her.

"Is Percy up there?" she asked sheepishly.

I gave her a tight lipped smile and nodded.

She smiled back and went up the stairs.

Everyone came by five. Almost all of the brought food with them, which was really nice of them. At first, I wasn't sure if we would have enough food for everyone, but there was plenty. Mom told me she even made tofu turkey for me.

The adults went into one of the living room to "politely converse," as my mother always claimed.

The teens went to my room, and the kids (Lacy, Bobby, and Matthew) went into Lacy's room. It all worked out fine.

When I entered my room, I realized that hey had just been talking about food the whole time, which was actually pretty understandable.

"- the best stew," Percy was staying when I opened the door.

Calypso smiled, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed.

"What?" I said.

"Percy was talking about how Calypso makes delicious beef stew," Jason informed me. He was sitting on my bed and patted the blanket next to me so I could come and sit there.

I looked at Calypso as I sat down next to Jason. "Yeah, I've heard. Just never tried it. How come Percy…?"

Calypso looked down and muttered something.

"What?" Hazel said, leaning closer. She was relaxing on my furry blue beanbag chair in the corner of my room.

Calypso glanced at Annabeth uneasily.

Annabeth scrunched up her eyebrows.

"Percy came to my house a lot one summer," Calypso said a little louder.

Both Nico and Annabeth tensed. I understood why Annabeth would feel uncomfortable, but Nico? What reason did he have to not be comfortable? Well, then again, when was he ever comfortable?

"Right," Annabeth said, glaring at Percy.

Percy grinned back.

Boys.

"Anyway," Leo said, probably trying to clear the air, "best sophomore year ever, am I correct?"

"I'm a freshman," Nico reminded him.

"I am too," Hazel said. "Even though I'm thirteen…"

"I'm a junior," Percy commented.

"Me too," Frank said, hugging my stuffed animal elephant.

"Also, we only get one sophomore year," I said. "For those who actually are sophomores."

Leo huffed and sat down. "You guys are all sticks in the mud."

"Not me," Percy protested.

Leo didn't respond.

Half an hour later, we went to eat. The adults went to sit at the main dining table, while the teens and kids sat at the other one. There was so much food. I was sure we wouldn't be able to finish it all.

But we actually did finish most of it, especially thanks to Percy, Leo, Jason, and Frank. Percy even volunteered to eat my tofu turkey, which most people thought was gross. They all sure had big appetites.

When dinner was over, we did a bunch of dumb things like a Truth or Dare and Ghost in the Graveyard.

I didn't know who's bright idea it was to play Ghost in the Graveyard in such a big yard with formal clothing (I'm looking at you, Leo Valdez), but it was surprisingly a lot of fun.

We were into our seventh round when Jason became the Ghost. We counted to a hundred while we waited on the front steps for Jason to hide.

When we got to a hundred, I immediately sprinted around my house to the pool at the back. He usually hid up in a tree near the pool.

But this time, he wasn't there.

"Jason?" I called, digging through a pile of deflated pool floaties.

He wasn't there either.

I crouched down to look under a table near the edge of the pool. I heard the water ripple.

Too late, I realized it.

"Ghost in the graveyard!" I screamed desperately. "Ghost in the-"

I felt an arm tug on my waist and I fell into the pool with a big splash, clothes and all. I heard everyone shouting and running towards the front of the house.

"Jason, you ruined my-"

The idiot wrapped his arms around me and pulled me under.

Everything was much calmer underwater obviously. With a struggle, I opened my eyes and saw Jason's familiar blue eyes staring back at me. He pulled me closer and put his lips on mine.

I closed my eyes tangled my fingers into his wet hair, which didn't feel wet since we were completely submerged. My other hand went on his upper back, hanging on to him.

He bit my bottom lip lightly, and felt him smile against my lips. I smiled back as his hands found a bare strip of skin on my lower back because my sweater was floating up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he held my butt to keep me up.

Slowly, we started to float up. Finally, we broke the surface of the water.

"Jason," I gasped. "One, we're both wet and you ruined my clothes. Two, everyone is probably at the front door now."

"Shh." Jason put one of his fingers on my lips and kept his other hand on my butt. "I ruined both of our clothes, and I don't care about everyone else. Also, I'm touching your buttocks, and you don't seem to care."

I leaned in closer and touched my nose against his. "That's because I love you, Sparky."

"I love you, too, Beauty Queen."

We were just a few seconds into our kiss when we heard the sound of a camera and saw a flash.

I looked up and everyone stood around the pool, trying not to laugh.

"One," Annabeth said, grinning. "You are so putting that on your story. Two, don't make out in the pool, please. And-"

"Three," Leo interrupted, putting his hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "I'm the one who calls her Beauty Queen. You just call her Pipes."

Annabeth jabbed her thumb at Leo. "Yeah. What he said."

Jason and I laughed and got out of the pool, soaking wet and freezing cold.

When we got inside, we dried ourselves, and changed clothes. Well, Jason and I dried ourselves and changed out clothes, being the only ones drenched with water. The adults gave us weird glances, but decided not to say a thing. Mom was probably secretly holding the urge to start rolling on the ground with laughter.

Then, they asked me to play a song for them in the family room, where our beautiful black grand piano sat, waiting to be played. It was mostly used for decor, because I didn't play much.

But I wanted to play tonight. And I knew exactly what song to play.

I sat down and started playing and singing "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. So many people sang along. It all felt so great.

By the last chorus of the song, mostly everyone was singing along, even Dad. I'm not going to lie though, it was likely he only sang along because he'd met Taylor Swift before and thought she was so sweet and nice.

"You belong with me," I finished.

Right when I was done, I stood up and hugged Jason, burying my face into his chest. Everyone was cheering and I felt like I was in some fairytale. This was not real life.

But it was.

And I loved Jason Grace.

**THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I CANNOT STRESS TO YOU HOW GRATEFUL I AM OF EVERYONE WHO HAS STAYED WITH ME THIS WHOLE ENTIRE TIME. I WILL NOTIFY YOU WHEN THE SEQUEL "EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED" (I picked this title. Somebody did suggest it, but it was after I picked it already) IS OUT. I LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH, AND THANKS FOR BEARING WITH ME. -JACKIE **


	35. Author's Note 6

**Hey guys! So Everything Has Changed is officially up on Wattpad if you want to go see it! I'll even -tually put it on fan fiction, but it's actually not letting me right now. I think it's a glitch or something... But anyway, if you can't wait, it's on Wattpad! -Jackie**


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